Asian Shares Climb as Global Equities Hit Records – Asia Market Wrap

Asian stocks rose for the second day on Friday, propelled by a global equities boom that has seen markets from the United States to Europe and Japan reach all-time highs.

Australian, Taiwanese, and South Korean stocks climbed. Japan’s markets were closed on Friday for a public holiday. Following Thursday’s big tech bounce, S&P futures hovered at all-time highs of around 5,100, while European contracts remained stable.

China remained the exception. The CSI 300 Index was on track for its first decline in nine days, and both it and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index went from rising to falling.

The largely bullish mood in Asia followed gains overnight in the US, where the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes, along with MSCI’s all-­county index, closed at new records. A buoyant outlook for Nvidia, the most valuable chipmaker, helped it surge 16% amid artificial- intelligence mania, while fresh data showed the world’s largest economy is still going strong.

Nvidia’s $277 billion one-day boost to its market capitalization on Thursday was the biggest single-session increase in value ever – eclipsing a recent $197 billion gain by Meta.