Asian equities recovered part of last week’s losses on Monday, helped by a bounce on Wall Street, though an inquiry at Nvidia kept investors wary.
Taiwan Leads the Rebound
Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 5.33%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 3.45%, and the Topix opened 2.82% higher. South Korea’s Kospi added 1.68%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.19%. MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index outside Japan gained 0.8%, recovering part of a 4.6% drop last week.
The rebound came after a rough Friday. The Kospi tumbled about 9%, the Nikkei lost roughly 6%, and the Hang Seng fell more than 1%. That move followed a $2.5 trillion sell-off on Wall Street. Investors had dumped tech shares on fears that Democratic control of Congress after the US midterms could slow data centre build-outs tied to the AI boom.
Taiwan’s benchmark had its heaviest weekly fall in two decades. Japanese and Taiwanese shares slipped into technical bear markets, and a global equity index touched a six-month low.
Nvidia Inquiry and Wall Street Cues
US stocks recovered on Friday as fears of tighter AI regulation eased. A US semiconductor index jumped 4.2%. Nvidia rose 3%, and Micron added 5%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were about 0.6% higher on Monday after dipping earlier.
The earlier dip followed news that Nvidia’s board had opened an independent investigation into chief executive Jensen Huang’s relationship with a woman accused of being a Chinese spy. The board said it has confidence in Huang and no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised. Huang has admitted the affair and said he let down his family, colleagues and shareholders.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is reportedly weighing advanced memory chip production. China publishes consumer and producer price figures later on Monday, giving a fresh reading on the world’s second-largest economy. Bloomberg Economics estimates higher energy costs may have pushed October inflation up.
Oil, Currencies, India and Bitcoin
Brent crude traded near $97 a barrel after losing more than 16% last week, its steepest weekly decline since April 2020. US crude hovered around $90. President Donald Trump said further strikes on Iran are highly unlikely if talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme and reopening the Strait of Hormuz progress.
The yen fell 0.1% to 158.26 per dollar. The offshore yuan held near 6.6708. In India, GIFT Nifty pointed to a muted open, and markets are closed on Tuesday for Diwali.
Bitcoin’s heaviest trading since 2024 has clustered near $80,000. Mike McGlone said that level could act as a ceiling this month. He said the cryptocurrency’s failure to stay above it after the US midterms may be a warning for other risk assets. Bitcoin was trading at $74,500 at the time of writing.
