Asia-Pacific markets climbed on Thursday as investors cheered Nvidia’s stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and bullish outlook, which reinforced confidence in the global AI trade and triggered broad gains in regional chip stocks.
Shares of Nvidia were trading 5.2% higher in after-hours trade after the company posted a solid fiscal third-quarter beat on both earnings and revenue.
The chipmaker also issued a robust fourth-quarter sales forecast, with CEO Jensen Huang saying demand for its Blackwell GPUs is “off the charts”.
By 11:55 am AEDT (12:55 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.9%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 3.6%, and South Korea’s Kospi 200 advanced 2.3%.
Chip-related stocks led the charge in Japan, as tech conglomerate SoftBank jumped 6.1%, and semiconductor equipment giant Tokyo Electron lifted 5.1%.
In South Korea, memory chip makers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics added 3% and 3.7%, respectively.
On the data front, China kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged for a sixth straight month in November, in line with expectations. The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) remained at 3.0%, while the five-year LPR held at 3.5%.
In the United States overnight, major benchmarks finished modestly higher, with the Dow up 0.1% and the S&P 500 rising 0.4%, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.6%.
In commodities, Brent crude fell 2.3% to settle at US$59.25 per barrel, while spot gold extended its recovery from early-week lows, up 0.3% to US$4,077.85 per ounce.
In China on Wednesday, the Shanghai Composite edged 0.2% higher to 3,946.7, and the CSI 300 gained 0.4% to 4,568.2.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.4% to a fresh two-week low of 25,830.7. India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.6% to 85,186.5.
European markets extended their losing streak to a fifth straight session on Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 down 0.5% to 9,507.4, the DAX slipping 0.1% to 23,162.9, and the CAC 40 easing 0.2% to 7,953.8.
