Markets in Japan hit a new high Thursday, led by gains in the real estate and technology sectors
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 exploded Thursday, gaining 513.05 points, or 1.2%, to 45,303.43.
The top movers were led by chemical company Resonac Holdings, which jumped more than 11%, semiconductor firm Sumco Corp, which added 7.39%, and Mitsui Mining & Smelting, which gained more than 5%.
The Bank of Japan kicked off its two-day policy meeting, where it is expected by most economists to keep policy rates steady.
Shares of South Korea’s SK Hynix, which supplies memory chips to Nvidia, gained 5.85%. TSMC, which manufactures Nvidia’s high-performance graphics processing units that help power large language models, saw a more modest rise of 1.58%.
Samsung Electronics was 2.94% higher. Advantest gained 4.95%, and Tokyo Electron jumped 4.97%
HSBC expects policy rates to remain unchanged in the upcoming meeting, but sees a 25 basis point hike this year at the October meeting, which will raise the policy rate to 0.75%.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng erased 363.54 points, or 1.4%, to 26,544.85.
Shares of Australian gas producer Santos fell over 11% to A$6.78 after a consortium led by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) aborted its $18.7-billion acquisition bid following protracted disputes over price and conditions.
CHINA
Asian chip stocks rose after a report claimed that China has banned Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips.
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 stumbled 52.91 points, or 1.2%, to 4,498.11.
In other markets
In Korea, the Kospi regained 47.9 points, or 1.4% to 3,461.30
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index dropped 11.16 points, or 0.3%, to 4,312.62.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index recovered 331.11 points, or 1.3%, to 25,769.36
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 fell 108.35 points, or 0.8%, to 13,120.03.
In Australia, the ASX 200 shed 73.27 points, or 0.8%, to 8,745.18
