Asia stocks rally as Korean chips surge and oil retreat lifts sentiment

Asian stocks extended a sharp global technology rebound on Tuesday, with South Korea and Japan leading regional gains as investors returned to beaten-down chipmakers following Wall Street’s biggest rally in about seven months.

A further retreat in oil prices, after U.S. President Donald Trump signalled that fresh strikes on Iran were unlikely if negotiations progressed, also lifted sentiment by easing inflation concerns, although uncertainty surrounding Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and the looming U.S. inflation report kept investors cautious about the durability of the recovery.

The MSCI Asia Pacific index climbed around 2%, with South Korea’s KOSPI jumping 4.31% to 5,235.14 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 2.8% to 60,398. Taiwan’s Taiex surged as much as 6.4%, while the TOPIX advanced 2.2%.

The S&P 500 jumped 2.4% on Monday, its biggest daily advance since April, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.7% and the Nasdaq 100 gained 3.4%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged nearly 7% as investors bought chip stocks following last week’s rout, which was partly driven by fears that Democratic gains in the U.S. midterm elections could bring tighter AI-industry regulation.

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