©Reuters
Investing.com — Most Asian stocks remained in a narrow range on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street's overnight trading, as expectations for more important economic data this week destabilized sentiment. .
But South Korean stocks were an outlier among their peers, surging as persistent hype around artificial intelligence boosted heavily weighted technology stocks.
Local markets had a negative overnight close on Wall Street as U.S. stocks fell into a hold pattern, coupled with inflation and expectations for further cues from the Federal Reserve and frothy valuations. U.S. stock index futures edged higher in Asian trading.
South Korea's KOSPI outperforms, chipmakers boosted by AI hype
South Korean stocks rose 1.3% on Tuesday to their highest in more than two years, outperforming their peers with gains in leading semiconductor manufacturing stocks.
memory chip manufacturers SK Hynix Co., Ltd. (KS:) soared 5.2% to a record high of 178,200 won, providing the biggest boost to KOSPI amid growing optimism over exposure to the artificial intelligence industry.
The company's stock follows a strong overnight rise in U.S. peer Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:) as the advanced memory chip maker predicts a surge in demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips driven by AI developments. did. SK Hynix is currently the only manufacturer of the most advanced HBM chips on the market.
Korean friends Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (KS:) rose 1.9%.
Japanese and Australian markets slump ahead of inflation statistics
Most other Asian stocks remained in tight ranges on Tuesday, with the Good Friday holiday also limiting trading volumes.
Japan fell 0.1%, with the index's impressive rise appearing to be coming to an end, with the index trading below its all-time high, especially as solid inflation indicators raised expectations for a more hawkish Bank of Japan. It is progressing. Inflation statistics are expected to be released later this week, and it will be interesting to see if there are any further clues.
Australia fell 0.1% after closing in on record highs. However, signs of weakness and hopes for maintenance of domestic stocks have dampened.
Chinese stocks and indexes were in a flat to low range, but gains in some tech stocks pushed the Hong Kong index up 0.4%. The rally in Chinese stocks appears to have lost momentum as concerns about slowing economic growth persist.
India's index is showing a modest positive trend, with the index expected to see some catch-up after a long weekend.
