A wave of positive sentiment swept across most Asia-Pacific stock markets on Wednesday, with major indices posting notable gains.
This upward momentum was largely driven by a strong performance on Wall Street, spearheaded by a rally in technology stocks, particularly chipmaker Nvidia.
Adding to the regional optimism, South Korean stocks surged following the presidential election victory of opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung. Indian benchmarks, including the Sensex, also rebounded, snapping a three-day losing streak.
The primary catalyst for the broad regional uplift was a robust session on Wall Street, where technology stocks, led by artificial intelligence (AI) darling Nvidia, continued their impressive run.
Shares in Nvidia advanced nearly 3%, extending gains from Monday and, significantly, driving its market capitalization past that of Microsoft for the first time since January.
Other chip companies, including Broadcom and Micron Technology, also saw substantial gains, rising more than 3% and 4%, respectively.
This tech-led enthusiasm rippled through Asian markets.
A standout performer in the region was South Korea, where markets rallied strongly following the presidential election. Opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung’s victory was met with investor optimism.
The Kospi index popped an impressive 2.66% to end the day at 2,770.84, hitting its highest level since August of the previous year.
The small-cap Kosdaq also advanced, closing 1.34% higher at 750.21.
John Cho, Korea equity portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management, noted that Lee’s “election pledge has placed considerable weight on enhancing the value of the Korean stock market.”
Cho explained in a note that Lee’s plan to amend commercial law, which will “broaden the legal duties of board members to include protecting the interests of minority shareholders,” is expected to “encourage boards to make fewer value-destructive decisions and more value-accretive ones.”
Looking ahead, Cho anticipates the incoming South Korean government will adopt “aggressive fiscal stimulus to revive the domestic economy while also ‘pragmatically’ handling international trade matters.”
He added in a Wednesday note,
We believe that the domestic economy is set to rebound from a low base in 2H 2024 / 1H 2025, and we continue to be positive on the globally competitive and uniquely positioned manufacturers, including HBMs [high bandwidth memory] for AI, health and beauty, and heavy industries.
Regional performance: Japan gains, China muted, Australia up
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 climbed 0.8% to end the day at 37,747.45, while the broader Topix index rose 0.51% to 2,785.13.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also ended the day 0.89% higher at 8,541.80. This came as data showed Australia’s economy grew 1.3% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025.
While this was lower than the estimated 1.5% growth anticipated by economists polled by Reuters, the reading was unchanged from the previous quarter’s 1.3% year-on-year growth.
Chinese and Hong Kong markets, however, were little changed.
This subdued performance followed comments from US President Donald Trump that it was ‘extremely hard’ to strike a trade deal with his counterpart Xi Jinping, an indication that the trade stalemate continues and fueling calls for direct talks between the leaders.
Mainland China’s CSI 300 index moved up a modest 0.43% to close at 3,868.74, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.6% to 23,654.03.
The tech-heavy Hang Seng Tech index in Hong Kong was up 0.45% as of 3:15 p.m.
Singapore time, with Meituan (+3.15%), Xpeng (+2.15%), Nio (+1.27%), Tencent (+1.09%), and Baidu (+1.16%) among the top movers.
Indian markets rebound: Sensex snaps losing streak
Indian benchmark equity indices, the Sensex and Nifty 50, rebounded on Wednesday, recovering from a three-day losing streak.
The recovery was supported by firm global cues and growing investor optimism around possible policy easing by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) this Friday.
By 3:30 p.m. IST, the BSE Sensex had risen 260.74 points from the day’s low to close at 80,998.25.
The NSE Nifty 50 successfully reclaimed the key psychological level of 24,620.20, lifted by gains in index heavyweights.
Shares of ETERNAL, Jio Financial Services, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, and Tech Mahindra were among the notable gainers, advancing up to 3 percent during the session.
Sector spotlight: tech and steel stocks in focus
The rally in technology stocks on Wall Street had a positive spillover effect on Asia-Pacific tech giants.
In Japan, Renesas Electronics ended the day 3.52% higher, Advantest Corp rose 1.92%, and SoftBank Group climbed 1.07%, though Lasertec lost 1.69%.
South Korea’s SK Hynix surged 4.82%, while Samsung Electronics ended the day 1.76% higher. Similarly, Taiwan’s TSMC and Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) advanced 4.21% and 2.97%, respectively.
Shares of Asia-Pacific steelmakers mostly rose on Wednesday.
This came after the US tariff rate on most imported steel and aluminum doubled to 50% at 12 a.m. US time.
Shares of Chinese state-owned steel manufacturers Chongqing Iron & Steel, Angang Steel, and Maanshan Iron & Steel ended the day higher by 0.79%, 1.29%, and 1.83%, respectively.
In Japan, Osaka Steel shares were up 2.3%, while Yamato Kogyo closed 2.26% higher.
South Korea’s Posco Holdings moved up 0.61%, and Hyundai Steel increased 0.73%.
Meanwhile, India’s Tata Steel was up 0.54%, while Jindal Steel and Power was flat, and JSW Steel had moved down 0.84% as of 12:45 p.m. Indian Standard Time.
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