BENGALURU: Equities in emerging Asia rose on Wednesday, with South Korean shares logging their best session in more than five weeks and Singapore clocking its ninth straight record high, as a benign US inflation report reduced expectations for Fed rate hikes.
The MSCI EM Asia index gained as much as 3.5 percent, with South Korea’s chipmaker-heavy KOSPI settling 6.2 percent higher.
AI memory chipmakers SK Hynix and rival Samsung Electronics, which make up just over half of the benchmark KOSPI, ended 8.8 percent and 6.3 percent higher, respectively.
Softer-than-expected US inflation reduced the probability of a July Federal Reserve interest rate hike, pushing the US dollar and Treasuries lower, while chipmakers Nvidia and Micron Technology jumped overnight.
Taiwan stocks closed 2 percent higher. TSMC, the world’s top contract chipmaker and a key Nvidia and Apple supplier, ended 0.8 percent higher after advancing as much as 1.7 percent. The stock makes up around 43 percent of the benchmark.
Singapore stocks rose as much as 1.2 percent, largely on the back of major banks. The index has advanced more than 7 percent this month.
Currencies in emerging Asian economies held their ground as the dollar remained under pressure from fading prospects of a US rate hike this month.
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