Asian markets moved mixed on Wednesday. Japan's shares edged lower, while Australia and several other indices gained. The Nikkei 225 fell 0.26%, but the Topix rose 0.35%. In South Korea, the Kospi was flat, and the Kosdaq rose 0.62%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.13%. Hang Seng futures pointed to a slightly higher opening at 26,865, compared to the previous close of 26,696.41.
The main highlight came from SoftBank Group. The Japanese company revealed it sold its entire stake in Nvidia for US$5.83 billion in October, in line with its "all-in" strategy for OpenAI. SoftBank also reduced its stake in T-Mobile, raising a total of US$9.17 billion. SoftBank shares briefly plunged more than 7% following the news.
On Wall Street, the three major indices ended mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.18% to a new closing record of 47,927.96 thanks to purchases of blue-chip stocks like Merck, Amgen, and Johnson & Johnson. The S&P 500 rose 0.21% to 6,846.61, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.25% to 23,468.30 due to a shift away from the technology sector.
Market sentiment was influenced by hopes for an end to the US government shutdown and volatility in "AI stocks." Investors in Asia will be closely monitoring the movement of technology stocks, particularly SoftBank, following the Nvidia share dump. The next focus will be on how the sector shift on Wall Street affects risk appetite in the Asian session. (asd)
Source: Newsmaker.id