Asian stock markets close higher, with Japan following records in NY

Asian stock markets closed mostly higher this Wednesday (3), with Japan's stock renewing its historic high, following Wall Street's new records in the previous session, fueled by enthusiasm for the boom in artificial intelligence, which continues to support technology stocks around the world.

The Nikkei index rose 2.5% in Tokyo, to an unprecedented level of 68,402.13 points, thanks mainly to chip-linked stocks such as Tokyo Electron (+13%), Screen Holdings (+18%) and Advantest (+5.1%).

Elsewhere in Asia, the Taiex rose 1.98% in Taiwan to 46,459.16 points, while the Hang Seng fell 1.56% in Hong Kong to 25,633.31 points. In Seoul, there was no auction due to local elections in South Korea.

In mainland China, markets made modest gains: the Shanghai Composite rose 0.22% to 4,083.97 points, and the less comprehensive Shenzhen Composite rose 0.27% to 2,812.92 points.

Yesterday, New York stock exchanges extended the recent streak of records, driven by optimism about AI, leaving concerns about the war between the United States and Iran in the background, which returned to exchange attacks amid the stagnation of diplomatic efforts.

The conflict in the Middle East and the resulting shock in energy prices led Japan's cabinet to approve today a supplementary budget of around US$19 billion to address the rising cost of living.

In Oceania, the Australian stock market followed the positive bias of Asia, and the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.70% in Sydney, to 8,785.70 points.

Source: CNN