Asia stocks – Nikkei, Topix and Kospi all rally on chip strength and earnings optimism
The read-through from Wall Street's chip strength is landing forcefully across Asia, with Japan's Topix extending a seventh straight session of gains to a fresh record and Korea's Kospi posting one of its stronger single-session moves in months. The composition of buying matters here: in Japan, strategists note the rally is broadening beyond pure momentum names into both value and growth, a signal of genuine confidence in the earnings outlook rather than a narrow chip-sector chase.
In Korea, the move is unambiguously foreign-led, with foreign investors net buying heavily into Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix while local retail investors sell into the strength, a pattern that often signals institutional conviction building around the AI infrastructure theme even as domestic sentiment lags. With the SOX up sharply overnight on the back of CoreWeave and other AI infrastructure earnings, alongside benign US inflation data reinforcing a Fed hold, the setup looks constructive for continued Asian tech outperformance near term, though the scale of Thursday's Kospi move in particular raises the question of how much further near-term momentum can extend before profit-taking sets in.
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Asian chip stocks are riding Wall Street's AI infrastructure rally hard, with Japan hitting fresh records and Korea's Kospi posting one of its strongest sessions in months on foreign buying.
Summary:
- The Nikkei rose around 1.6 percent to near 68,600 by mid-morning Tokyo trade, while the broader Topix rose around half a percent to a fresh record near 4,160, extending gains to a seventh straight session
- The rally tracked a stronger session on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed higher on upbeat CoreWeave and AI infrastructure earnings, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up around 2.5 percent
- A strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities said Japanese chip-related shares, led by Advantest, are following the SOX index higher, and noted the current rally is unusual in that investors are buying both value and growth names, supported by a strong corporate earnings outlook
- South Korea's Kospi extended a four-session winning streak, rising around 4.2 percent to break above the 6,855 level
- Foreign investors led the buying on Korea's main board, net buying around 1.43 trillion won, with institutions adding roughly 377 billion won, while individual investors were net sellers of around 1.78 trillion won
- Samsung Electronics rose around 5 percent toward the 270,000 won level, and SK Hynix rose more than 7 percent, topping around 1.61 million won
- The Kosdaq rose around 1.25 percent to near 870, led by individual investors who were net buyers of around 148 billion won, while foreigners and institutions were both modest net sellers
Asian chip stocks extended a sharp rally on Thursday, with Japan's Topix hitting a fresh record high and South Korea's Kospi surging around 4 percent, as strong AI infrastructure earnings out of the United States fed through into one of the region's stronger sessions in recent months. The move tracked a rally on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both closed higher on Wednesday, lifted by upbeat quarterly results from CoreWeave and other AI infrastructure companies, while a benign US inflation print reinforced bets that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady in September. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbed around 2.5 percent on the session.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei rose around 1.6 percent to near 68,600, while the broader Topix added roughly half a percent to reach a fresh record near 4,160, marking its seventh consecutive session of gains. Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities, said the pattern was a familiar one, with Japanese chip-related shares following the SOX index higher and Advantest standing out as the clearest example on the day. Shimada noted, however, that the current rally carries a distinct character compared with previous Japanese equity advances, with investors buying both value and growth stocks rather than chasing a narrow set of momentum names, a shift he attributed to a broadly strong corporate earnings outlook underpinning sentiment across the market.
The move in South Korea was even more pronounced. The Kospi extended a four-session winning streak, climbing around 4.2 percent to break above the 6,855 level, with the rally led firmly by foreign investors. Foreign buyers were net purchasers of around 1.43 trillion won on the main board, with institutions adding a further roughly 377 billion won, while individual investors sold into the strength, net selling around 1.78 trillion won. All of the largest stocks by market capitalisation on the main board advanced, with Samsung Electronics rising around 5 percent toward the 270,000 won level and SK Hynix climbing more than 7 percent to top around 1.61 million won, both moves consistent with the broader AI and chip infrastructure theme driving sentiment across the region. The smaller-cap Kosdaq index also advanced, rising around 1.25 percent to near 870, though the composition of buying differed from the main board, with individual investors net buying around 148 billion won while both foreign investors and institutions were modest net sellers, around 70 billion won and 71 billion won respectively.
This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.提供 MainLink：Investinglive RSS Breaking News Feed
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