Tokyo and Taipei bounce strongly after last week's chip slump, with Brent holding just below 100 dollars
Taiwan's market gains more than 5 percent and the Nikkei more than 3 percent, as investors turn to Tuesday's US inflation figures.
Asian stock markets on Monday recovered much of last week's blow. In Taipei the Taiex rose 5.6 percent, carried by chipmaker TSMC, and in Tokyo the Nikkei 225 climbed 3.4 percent to 59,411 points, AP reports. Tokyo Electron and Advantest gained between 5 and 6.5 percent. Seoul's Kospi rose about 1.5 percent, while Hong Kong and Shanghai barely moved. US futures were also higher, Al Jazeera writes.
AI stocks took heavy blows last week. After the Democrats' sweeping win in the US midterm elections, investors feared that new majorities would slow the construction of data centres. According to Al Jazeera, 2.5 trillion dollars in market value was wiped out on Wall Street on Thursday, and on Friday the Nikkei fell about 6 percent and the Kospi about 9 percent. The S&P 500 ended the week 2.7 percent lower, its weakest week since April 2025.
SoftBank Group lost 2.9 percent as it tries to rescue its takeover of ABB's robotics business after China's veto. Oil prices eased slightly: a barrel of Brent cost about 98 dollars, which HDFC Sky attributes to hopes of progress in the talks over Iran. Investors are now waiting for Tuesday's US inflation figures. After Friday's strong jobs data, markets are pricing in the possibility of a Fed rate rise in December.