Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Read more
Asian shares were mostly higher on Tuesday tracking Wall Street gains, with South Korea’s stock market rebounding after sharp losses on a tech sell-off.
Oil prices stabilized after the U.S. and Iran said separately they would send delegations to Qatar, although Iran said talks had not been arranged with the United States.
U.S. futures edged up.
South Korea’s Kospi index, which has performed strongly during the global AI frenzy due to growing demand including for chips from its firms like SK Hynix, gained 1.3% to 8,504.43. It declined 0.2% and 5.8% in the past two trading days, respectively.
Concerns over the sustainability of the boom in AI stocks over the past months have added to volatility across markets including in South Korea. On Monday, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix announced plans for over $500 billion of investments in the country’s chipmaking and AI.
Shares of Samsung Electronics were up 3.6% on Tuesday, while that of SK Hynix rose 1%.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.9% to 70,116.82. Japan’s stocks have also benefited from the AI boom. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron jumped 4.3%. SoftBank Group, an investment holding company that invests in OpenAI, was up 0.6%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 0.8% lower at 22,836.39. The Shanghai Composite index was trading 0.2% higher at 4,080.42.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged up less than 0.1% to 8,825.80.
Taiwan’s Taiex was 3.2% higher, while India’s Sensex lost 0.1%.
Oil prices fell modestly early Tuesday and were still trading close to pre-Iran war levels back in late February, as traders continue to monitor developments on U.S.-Iran negotiations for a permanent end to the four-month war.
Brent crude, the international standard, was trading 0.2% lower at $73.73 a barrel. It was around $72 per barrel before the start of the war.
Benchmark U.S. crude was down 0.4% to $70.49 a barrel.
On Monday, Wall Street returned to a gain after earlier losses. The benchmark S&P 500 added 1.2% to 7,440.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6% to 52,182.74. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 2.1% to 25,820.14.
Intel was up 2.7%, Micron Technology climbed 1.1%, Nvidia rose 1.3% and AMD, or Advanced Micro Devices, was 3.4% higher.
In other dealings, the U.S. dollar rose to 162.18 Japanese yen from 161.94 yen as the yen further weakened. The euro was trading at $1.1399, down from $1.1422.
___
AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.
