Asian shares mostly rise after AI leads rally on Wall Street

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose in early Thursday trading, as global market optimism continued on prospects for AI stocks and the semiconductor sector.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.6% in early trading to 68,609.92. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.6% to 9,155.80. South Korea's Kospi surged 3.9% to 6,835.55. Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up nearly 0.1% to 25,453.45, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.4% to 3,961.82.

Asian regional sentiments received a boost from the overnight performance of Wall Street, which finished just shy of a record Wednesday. Several AI stocks reported better growth for the spring than analysts expected, while a report showed inflation across the United States was slightly less bad last month.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% for its first gain since setting its all-time high on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 21 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%.

Stocks in the artificial intelligence technology business helped lead the way after strong profit reports bolstered hopes they can continue to deliver big-enough growth to justify the huge gains their prices have made.

It’s a return to strength for AI stocks, which have been veering on a roller-coaster ride . After surging to records, AI stocks came under pressure on worries that they shot too high. Investors wanted to see big spenders on AI prove their investments are yielding enough in profits and productivity to make them worth it. That in turn could lead to continued demand for chips and other AI infrastructure.

Treasury yields fell after a report showed that U.S. consumers paid prices for gasoline, groceries and other costs of living last month that were 3.4% higher than a year earlier. That’s higher than anyone would like, but it’s not as bad as June’s 3.5% inflation rate.

The deceleration could give the Federal Reserve more leeway to hold off on hikes to interest rates. The Fed’s members are notably split about whether they should have already begun hiking interest rates. But Wednesday’s update on inflation pushed traders to pull back on bets the Fed will hike its main interest rate at its next meeting in September.

That helped pull the yield on the 10-year Treasury down to 4.68% from 4.70% late Tuesday. It, though, still remains well above its 3.97% level from before the war with Iran, which sent oil prices and worries about inflation spiking.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude dipped $1.07 to $82.20 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard fell $1.01 to $87.97 a barrel. That swung between modest gains and losses Wednesday.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 20.30 points to 7,748.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 21.58 to 53,770.27, and the Nasdaq composite gained 143.04 to 26,588.49.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched up to 159.43 Japanese yen from 159.41 yen. The euro cost $1.1525, down slightly from $1.1527.

AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama