Asian-Pacific markets traded higher on Wednesday, after major United States benchmarks rebounded sharply overnight.
By 11:35 am AEDT (12:35 am GMT) the ASX 200 and Nikkei 225 were up 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively, while several key APAC markets including South Korea and China remained closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.
Among data releases, Australia's monthly consumer price inflation (CPI) indicator was in-line with expectations at 2.5%, while the RBA trimmed mean CPI came in at 3.2% versus 3.3% expected.
In the United States, major indices rebounded after a sell-off triggered by concerns over competition from China’s DeepSeek in the artificial intelligence sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3%, closing at 44,850.4, the S&P 500 advanced 0.9% to 6,067.7, while the Nasdaq Composite surged 2% to 19,733.6.
Nvidia led the recovery among tech stocks, gaining nearly 9% after a 17% plunge the previous day. Other tech giants, including Broadcom and Oracle, also rebounded, closing 2.6% and 3.6% higher, respectively.
Among S&P 500 companies, Royal Caribbean Group surged 11.8%, CrowdStrike Holdings rose 9.4%, and Vistra Corp gained 9%. On the downside, Lockheed Martin dropped 9.2%, General Motors fell 8.9%, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise lost 6.5%.
In commodities, Brent crude oil edged up 0.7% to US$77.60 a barrel, while gold climbed 0.8% to US$2,763.31.
With most markets closed for Lunar New Year, trading activity remained subdued. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.1% to 20,225.1.
European markets closed mixed. The FTSE 100 Index rose 0.4% to 8,533.9, while Germany's DAX gained 0.7% to 21,430.6. France’s CAC 40, however, edged down 0.1% to 7,897.4.
