Asian Shares Rise In Thin Holiday Trade As Tech Stocks Rebound

Asian stocks rose in thin trade on Wednesday, with markets in the region including China, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea closed for Lunar New Year holidays.

Technology stocks rebounded as investor angst ebbed over the emergence of a low-cost Chinese AI model.

Market attention turned to U.S. mega-cap tech company earnings including Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Tesla, as well as the Federal Reserve’s first interest-rate decision in 2025 due later in the day.

The dollar held steady in Asian trade following two days of consecutive advances. Gold ticked lower while oil prices were mixed.

Japanese markets rallied as a weaker yen boosted export-related stocks. The Nikkei average jumped 1.02 percent to 39,414.78, snapping three days of declines. The broader Topix index settled 0.68 percent higher at 2.775.59.

Panasonic rose about 1 percent and Sony surged 3.8 percent. SoftBank advanced 2.4 percent after recent rout, Advantest jumped 4.4 percent and Tokyo Electro added 2.3 percent.

Australian shares advanced after data showed core inflation eased by more than expected in the final three months of 2024, fueling bets for a quarter-point easing by RBA in February.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.57 percent to 8,447 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended up 0.65 percent at 8,700.70.

Financials led the surge, with banks like Westpac and ANZ nearing record highs. Energy stocks and gold miners also pushed higher while falling copper prices weighed on the mining sector.

Star Entertainment soared 13 percent after the company said it would divest its Star Sydney Event Centre assets to theatre owner and operator Foundation Theatres for A$60 million to bolster liquidity.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 gained 0.35 percent to end at 13,003.04.

U.S. stocks ended higher overnight, tentatively recovering from the previous day’s tech slump following DeepSeek’s sudden burst onto the AI scene.

In economic releases, durable goods orders fell 2.2 percent in December while consumer confidence has declined for the second month in January, separate reports showed.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 2 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 0.9 percent and the Dow edged up 0.3 percent as focus shifted to upcoming mega-cap earnings and the Fed meeting.