Stocks were mixed in Asia on Friday, mirroring recent all-time highs on Wall Street, driven in particular by substantial gains in chipmaker stocks.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan briefly surpassed the 41,000-point mark earlier in the day, but ultimately closed down 0.2% at 40,888.43.
However, Chinese real estate and technology sectors dragged down the Shanghai and Hong Kong markets, with the Hang Seng Index falling 2% to 16,527.85 and the Shanghai Composite declining 1% to 3,048.03.
Meanwhile, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2% to 7,770.60, while India’s Sensex rose modestly 0.3% to 72,855.32.
Elsewhere, Bangkok’s SET index saw a marginal decline of 0.1%, while Taiwan’s Taiex index rose 0.2%.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 extended its winning streak, rising 0.3% to a new all-time high of 5,241.53, marking the third consecutive day of all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to 39,781.37, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to 16,401.84, both also setting new records.
Micron led the charge among chipmakers, rising 14.1% following strong quarterly results and an optimistic profit forecast for the current quarter, driven by rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI).
Chipmaker Broadcom also posted significant gains, up 5.6%, driven primarily by its investor presentation focused on AI opportunities.
Reddit, in its debut as a publicly traded stock, soared 48.4%, attracting considerable attention.
However, tech giant Apple faced a setback, falling 4.1% after the Department of Justice announced an antitrust lawsuit, accusing the company of monopolistic practices in the smartphone market.
Other notable moves included Accenture, which fell 9.3% despite reporting strong quarterly earnings, and Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants, which fell 6.5% after a disappointing revenue forecast.
Looking ahead, investors remain attentive to upcoming inflation data releases, particularly US consumer and personal spending data for February, which will provide more information on inflation trends and their potential implications for monetary policy decisions.
In the commodities market, US benchmark crude oil fell to $80.54 per barrel, while Brent crude fell to $84.70 per barrel in early trading.
Currency markets saw the US dollar weaken against the Japanese yen and the euro, trading at 151.39 yen and $1.0822 respectively.
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