Asian stocks edge higher; Japan’s Nikkei in sight of record high

Investing.com-- Most Asian stocks rose on Friday tracking a strong lead-in from Wall Street, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index extended its run of strong gains and was now trading within spitting distance of a record high.

Wall Street bourses ended higher in overnight trade, aided by strong gains in the energy sector as oil prices rebounded. Data showing an unexpected drop in retail sales through January also fueled some hopes for early interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, although later comments from Fed officials dismissed this notion. 

S&P 500 and Dow futures fell slightly in Asian trade, while Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.1%, as technology stocks remained buoyed by increased hype over artificial intelligence development. 

Tech stocks boosted by AI hype after OpenAI reveals new video platform

This trend was also reflected in Asian markets, with tech-heavy bourses clocking the strongest gains. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index and South Korea’s KOSPI both added 0.7%, gains in the tech sector helped Australia’s ASX 200 rise 0.5%. 

Hype over AI rose after ChatGPT creator OpenAI revealed a new AI platform, “Sora,” which is capable of creating detailed videos based on text prompts. But the software is still in an early stage. 

Chipmaking stocks were by far the biggest benefactors of this trend, with Asian majors- particularly TSMC (TW:2330) (NYSE:TSM), the world’s largest contract chipmaker by output, sitting on an over 10% gain this week. The stock was also trading close to a record high hit earlier in the week.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 keeps record high in sight 

The Nikkei 225 trimmed some of its earlier gains on Friday, but was still trading up 0.8% at 38,485.0 points by 21:13 ET (02:13 GMT). The index was at a 34-year high, and was trading just below a lifetime peak of 38,915 points. 

Gains were led chiefly by heavyweight technology, chipmaking and chip-adjacent stocks, amid continued hype over AI.

But broader Japanese stocks were also buoyed by increasing bets that the Bank of Japan will further delay its plans to begin raising interest rates, especially in the wake of data that showed the Japanese economy unexpectedly entered a recession in the fourth quarter. 

The broader TOPIX index, which has a lower percentage of tech companies than the Nikkei, rose 1%.

Analysts at Citi said that Japanese stocks were likely to rally further in 2024, with the Nikkei projected to reach 45,000 points, while the TOPIX was likely to reach 3,100 points- implying an 18% and 20% upside from current levels, respectively.

Broader Asian markets also advanced. Philippine and Indonesian shares rose 0.4% each, while futures for India’s Nifty 50 index pointed to a mildly positive open.