Asian stocks were mixed Monday with markets in Japan and South Korea trading higher, while oil prices edged lower on fresh optimism over progress in U.S.-Iran negotiations.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.6% to 72,364.82, after reaching a new all-time record of 72,831.73 during intraday trading, helped by technology stocks that were fueled by excitement over the global artificial intelligence boom.
Market Performance
Japan’s SoftBank Group, the multinational investment holding company with a strong AI focus, rose 2.4%. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron was up 2.3%. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.4% to 9,084.37 and was trading near its record high levels, led by AI-related shares. Memory chip maker SK Hynix surged 4.7%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1% to 23,690.86, while the Shanghai Composite index was 0.2% higher at 4,098.01. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.1% to 8,822.80. Taiwan’s Taiex rose 2.8%. India’s Sensex was up 0.6%.
Oil prices fell as talks progressed over a permanent end to the Iran war. Brent crude, the international standard, was trading 1.4% lower to $79.42 per barrel.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.