Nvidia Gains 2.4% as Meta Sells $35 Billion in Stock

Investors in Asia faced a split reaction to recent U.S. market moves on Tuesday, as chip stocks rallied while broader indices stayed flat. The movement followed a Monday session where U.S. stocks recovered from a recent slump, driven by gains in the technology sector.

South Korea’s Kospi index led the regional advance, jumping more than 4% before settling at 5,667.99, which represented a 3.6% gain by midday. The rise was fueled by major tech firms, with chipmaker SK Hynix surging 7% and Samsung Electronics climbing 4.8% as traders priced in continued demand for hardware.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 2.2% to reach 63,542.77. Testing equipment maker Advantest posted a jump of more than 10%, while SoftBank Group, which holds an investment in OpenAI, climbed 7%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.3% to 8,838.10, and Taiwan’s Taiex index rose 0.5%.

Results were less positive in mainland China and Hong Kong. The Hang Seng index gave up early gains to slip 0.2% to 23,174.44, and the Shanghai Composite edged 0.1% lower to 3,692.58. Market participants kept a close eye on a closed-door meeting of China’s ruling Communist Party, waiting for signals on future economic policy.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.7% on Monday, pulling within 1.8% of its all-time high set earlier this month. Nvidia, the largest driver of the recent rally, rose 2.4%, helping it recover ground after a three-week losing streak, its longest since June. However, other AI-linked stocks remained volatile due to concerns about the high cost of borrowing money to build data centers.

Meta Platforms announced plans to raise $35 billion by selling stock to finance its AI investments. The company noted that Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and Broadcom may purchase a total of $5 billion of the new shares. Meanwhile, Anthropic detailed its losses ahead of a planned stock sale, and SpaceX announced a roughly $40 billion deal with an entity managed by Apollo Global Management for AI computing power.

Earnings reports from major tech firms will test the durability of the AI spending boom this week. Alphabet and Microsoft are scheduled to release quarterly results on Wednesday, followed by Amazon on Thursday. Roughly one-third of the S&P 500 is set to report earnings in the current period, offering a snapshot of corporate performance amid high interest rates.

In fixed-income markets, the 10-year Treasury yield eased to 4.98% from 5.00% late Friday. The two-year yield rose to 4.71% from 4.69%, reflecting expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold its overnight interest rate steady when it concludes its latest meeting on Wednesday. The Fed last month hiked rates for the first time in three years to combat persistent inflation. In energy markets, Brent crude fell 0.8% to $109.82 a barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude dropped 0.8% to $100.93 per barrel.