Asian Stocks Rise, Technology Firms Rally In Japan: Markets Wrap

Asian stocks rose at the open, poised for their fourth gain in five weeks, as optimism around artificial intelligence propelled global equities to fresh records.

Stocks in Japan gained 1% with Hitachi Ltd. and Renesas Electronics Ltd. among the winners. That came after global equities closed at all-time highs with technology stocks jumping on OpenAI’s share sale. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. surged 3.6% in US trading to the highest level in more than four years while a gauge of Chinese tech shares in the US rose 1.1% to a three-year high.

“Tech momentum shows no sign of fading — as if gravity doesn’t exist — with headwinds brushed aside and every AI headline sparking bursts of euphoria,” said Hebe Chen, an analyst at Vantage Markets in Melbourne.

The moves were a sign the bullish momentum in US tech overcame concerns linked to the Trump administration’s plan to slash “thousands” of federal jobs in the second day of a government shutdown. Republicans sought to use the threat of permanent cuts to encourage Democrats to vote to reopen the government. US President Donald Trump plans to meet with White House Budget Director Russell Vought to discuss the plan.

In Asia, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda is expected to speak in Osaka. Markets are closed in China and South Korea.

Elsewhere, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted a “pretty big breakthrough” in the next round of trade talks with China. The comments come as the Trump administration takes steps to support US farmers hurt by a decline in Chinese purchases.

Traders were also contending with the temporary blackout in economic readouts after Thursday’s weekly initial jobless claims numbers were delayed by the government closure. Figures from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed US employers dialed back hiring plans in September, even though they also announced fewer job cuts.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ nonfarm payrolls data on Friday will also likely be delayed.

“A quick shutdown that sets back the report a few days might not move the needle, but a long one that also threatens release of mid-month inflation data might keep the Fed on the sidelines, unwilling to cut rates at its late October meeting without the data,” according to Joe Mazzola, head trading and derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab Corp.

Money markets are still almost fully pricing a quarter-point Fed cut at the end of the month and are widely expecting another in December to support the labor market.

In commodity markets, gold edged higher while oil was on track for its biggest weekly decline since late June, ahead of an OPEC+ meeting that’s expected to result in the return of more idled barrels, exacerbating concerns around oversupply.

Some of the main moves in markets: 

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 9:46 a.m. Tokyo time

• Hang Seng futures fell 0.4%

• Japan’s Topix rose 0.9%

• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2%

• Euro Stoxx 50 futures were little changed

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed

• The euro was little changed at $1.1721

• The Japanese yen was little changed at 147.33 per dollar

• The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1342 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin fell 0.3% to $120,304.9

• Ether fell 0.5% to $4,472.92

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.09%

• Australia’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.32%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.2% to $60.61 a barrel

• Spot gold was little changed