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Japan's Nikkei nears record peak after Nvidia beat, rest of Asia soft

Japan's Nikkei share average reached the cusp of an alltime peak on Thursday after unexpectedly strong earnings projections from U.S. chip designer Nvidia raised Asian tech stocks.

The local mood was tempered by a retreat in Chinese stocks from multi-month highs reached amid Beijing's. efforts to enhance market self-confidence.

Long-term U.S. bond yields hugged three-month highs while. the dollar sagged after minutes from the last Federal Open. Market Committee meeting validated the view that interest rate. cuts would be sluggish in coming, however weren't considerably more hawkish. that the Fed's formerly revealed views.

The Nikkei 225 share typical pushed as high as. 38,924.88 for the first time because January 1990 - right when the. so-called bubble economy peaked - before getting in the midday. recess up 1.7% from Wednesday at 38,913.84. Its all-time high is. 38,957.44 set on Dec. 29, 1989.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan. rose 0.07%, with a 0.71% increase for Taiwan's stock. benchmark countered by losses in Hong Kong.

The Hang Seng slipped 0.41%, threatening to snap a. seven-day winning streak. A subindex of tech shares. plunged 0.84%.

Mainland blue chips oscillated throughout the. session in between little gains and losses.

Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures indicated gains,. following a blended session on Wednesday for the main criteria. S&P 500 futures rallied 0.75% and tech-focused Nasdaq. futures jumped 1.39%.

Following the closing bell overnight, Nvidia forecast a. roughly 233% surge in quarterly income, sending its shares up. some 10% after-hours.

The Nikkei has leapt about 16% currently this year, with the. S&P 500 and Nasdaq rallying some 5% each, driven in large part. by mammoth expections for expert system (AI), with. Nvidia's chips at the centre of that boom.

Nvidia's profits beat increased belief and reduced issues. over stretched assessments, supplying room for the AI style to. continue to drive markets, Saxo Markets analysts composed in a. research note.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield eased slightly in Asian time. on Thursday to 4.3068%, close to the 4.332% level marked a week. ago and which had actually not been seen since the end of November.

The bulk of policymakers at the U.S. Federal Reserve's last. conference in January were worried about the risks of cutting. rates of interest prematurely, with broad unpredictability about for how long. borrowing expenses must remain at their current level, minutes. released on Wednesday revealed.

That reinforced the view among traders that any rate cut is. not imminent, with market prices recommending one-in-three chances. for a first decrease in May, according to CME Group's FedWatch. Tool.

The dollar continued to pull away from a three-month high. reached recently, when the U.S. dollar index, which. tracks the currency against 6 significant peers, reached 104.97. It. was flat at 103.99 in early trading on Thursday.

The euro was bit altered at $1.08195, while the. yen was constant at 150.345 per dollar.

Somewhere else, oil rates increased slightly, contributing to gains from. the previous session that came amidst indications of tighter supply.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate unrefined futures (WTI) CLc1 increased. 17 cents to $78.08 a barrel for the timely month. The May. agreement gained 14 cents to $77.45 a barrel by 0150 GMT.

Brent crude for April delivery ticked up 14 cents to. $ 83.17 a barrel, while the May contract included 13 cents to $82.24. a barrel.

Oil costs increased 1% on Wednesday, with refinery restarts in. the United States supporting need after a series of outages. earlier cut U.S. refinery utilisation rates to the most affordable level. in 2 years.

(source: Reuters)