Most Asian stocks rose on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump’s postponing of strikes on Iran brought some relief, although concerns over a prolonged conflict kept regional markets under pressure.
South Korean stocks recovered from 3% decline earlier in the session, but were still headed for a deep weekly loss on an extended rout in major chip shares.
Regional markets took a weak lead-in from Wall Street, which fell sharply on Thursday amid growing uncertainty over the Iran conflict, especially as Tehran ruled out direct negotiations with Washington.
But S&P 500 Futures rose 0.6% by 01:16 ET (05:16 GMT) after Trump postponed the deadline for attacking critical Iranian energy infrastructure by over a week, and flagged progress in negotiations with Tehran.
S. Korea’s KOSPI heads for weekly loss on memory chip rout
South Korea’s KOSPI recouped a bulk of its intraday losses, trading down 0.5% after initially falling as much as 3%.
But the index was still headed for a 6% loss this week and was the worst performer in Asia.
Memory chip makers Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) and SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) steadied after falling over 4% apiece earlier in the day, and were still set to lose between 7% and 10% this week.
The two tracked extended losses in their U.S. peers after Alphabet’s Google unveiled a new compression algorithm earlier this week– TurboQuant.
Google researchers said the algorithm could greatly reduce working memory requirements for AI programs– a trend that analysts said could hurt long-term demand for memory chips.
Google said it will present the tech at a conference in April.
Asia stocks recover but set for muted week as Iran jitters persist
Broader Asian stocks recovered from earlier losses in the session, but were still headed for a muted week amid little relief from uncertainty over the Iran conflict.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indexes traded flat towards the end of trade, and were set for mild weekly gains.
China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes rose 0.7% apiece, and were down about 1.7% and 1.5%, respectively, for the week. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2% and was down 1.4% this week.
Australia’s ASX 200 fell 0.1% but was sitting on mild weekly gains, especially as local energy stocks benefited from rising oil prices. Singapore’s Straits Times index rose 0.7% on Friday and was flat for the week.
India’s Nifty 50 index slid 1.4% in catch-up trade after a holiday on Thursday, with the index also headed for a flat week.
Asian markets logged wild swings this week amid a swathe of conflicting signals on the U.S.-Israel war on Iran. U.S. assertions of progress in talks were largely denied by Iran, although the country did say it was reviewing a 15-point ceasefire proposal from Washington.
Trump on Thursday evening said he will extend a deadline for U.S. strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure by 10 days, and flagged some progress in negotiations over an end to the conflict.
But hostilities in the Middle East showed few signs of easing, with reports pointing to continued strikes between Iran and surrounding countries in the early hours of Friday.
The conflict is now set to enter its fifth consecutive week.
Sources : ( investing.com )