The Nikkei 225 and Topix indexes rallied nearly 2% on Wednesday, with the latter reaching one-year highs after US President Donald Trump announced a trade agreement with Japan that includes a 15% tariff on Japanese exports to the US. Trump also revealed that Japan will invest $550 billion into the US and open its markets to key American goods. The news sparked broad-based gains, led by Japanese automakers. Toyota Motor jumped 9.8%, Honda Motor rose 8.8%, and Nissan Motor climbed 9%. Financials, industrials, and consumer stocks also posted strong advances, reflecting optimism over improved...
US stocks plunged on Monday (1/27), with the S&P 500 down 1.8%, the Dow Jones down about 207 points and the Nasdaq nearly 3%, driven by growing concerns about US dominance in AI. The latest AI model from Chinese startup DeepSeek, which has been praised for its cost-effectiveness and ability to run on less advanced chips, attracted significant attention as its AI Assistant overtook ChatGPT to become the top-rated free app on the US Apple App Store. The technology sector was by far the worst performer. Nvidia plunged more than 10%, Broadcom slumped 11.5% and Micron Technology lost more...
European stocks slumped on Monday (27/1) as the technology sector tracked a rout in other markets after China's improved low-cost, low-power artificial intelligence (AI) models fueled concerns about rivals' profits and the need for expensive technology. The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) was down 0.7% by 0815 GMT. U.S. Nasdaq Composite futures fell 3.1%, while S&P 500 futures fell 1%. Startup DeepSeek has launched a free assistant that it says uses low-cost chips and less data, appearing to challenge widespread bets in financial markets that AI will drive demand along the supply chain...
The Hang Seng rose 132 points, or 0.7%, to close at 20,198 on Monday (1/27), gaining for a second session amid broad gains. Positive sentiment was supported by news that the US and Colombia have averted trade tensions, as the White House confirmed that Bogota has agreed to all conditions set by President Trump in the migrant dispute. Adding to the upbeat mood, three Chinese insurance companies received regulatory approval to invest CNY 52 billion in stocks. Furthermore, excitement around DeepSeek, a Chinese AI with a cost-saving model, increased, sending tech stocks such as Kuaishou Tech...
Japanese stocks fell after the close on Monday (1/27), as losses in the Precision Instruments, Automobiles & Parts and Gas & Water sectors led shares lower. At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 0.83%. The best performers on the Nikkei 225 were Keio Corp. (TYO:9008), which rose 6.23% or 231.00 points to trade at 3,938.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Taiheiyo Cement Corp. (TYO:5233) gained 5.53% or 209.00 points to close at 3,987.00 and KDDI Corp. (TYO:9433) gained 4.81% or 234.00 points to 5,103.00 in late trade. The worst performers during the session were Furukawa Electric...
Hong Kong's stocks climbed 192 points or nearly 1% to 20,254 around noon on Monday, increasing for the second session and notching their highest level in two weeks as all sectors gained. Traders were upbeat after Bloomberg News reported that the US held off on Colombia tariffs after the South American country agreed to all of President Trump's terms in migrant dispute. A surge of 11% yoy in Chinese industrial profits for December also buoyed sentiment, as it marked the first rise since July even as they recorded the third consecutive year of drop. Limiting further gains was a slump in US...