Global Markets Today: Nikkei 225, ASX 200 trade higher as tech rally continues

Global Markets Today: Asian markets opened higher on Thursday, taking cues from Wall Street’s gains as investors brushed aside worries about a potential AI bubble.

In the U.S., Nvidia shares climbed on Wednesday after CEO Jensen Huang highlighted a “substantial” surge in AI computing demand over the past six months. CoreWeave stock also gained after the AI cloud provider introduced new tools to support developers in building AI agents.

In regional markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.11 per cent to 48,262, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.33 per cent.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index signaled a positive start at 26,863, compared with its previous close of 26,829.46.

Meanwhile, South Korean markets remained shut for a holiday.

US stock market today

U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday, lifted by gains in technology shares, as investors sought direction from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes in the absence of economic data due to the government shutdown.

The Nasdaq outperformed with the strongest percentage increase, driven by artificial intelligence-linked megacap stocks that have dominated market rallies this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped slightly by 1.20 points, to 46,601.78, while the S&P 500 advanced 39.13 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 6,753.72, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 255.02 points, or 1.12 per cent, to 23,043.38.

Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs, while the Dow finished largely unchanged.

With no fresh data to guide them, investors looked ahead to the upcoming third-quarter earnings season and analyzed the September FOMC meeting minutes for hints on potential rate cuts.

The minutes revealed a split among policymakers, who highlighted risks in the labor market but continued to monitor inflation. While most members indicated further policy easing could be appropriate later this year, the timing and pace of such cuts remained uncertain.

(With inputs from agencies)

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