Asian markets mostly rise, Nikkei gains 2.4% — Asharq Al-Awsat

Asian stock markets, including Japan's, mostly rose on Thursday morning amid investor interest in technology companies and the artificial intelligence sector. Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 2.4% to 68,355.81 points, Asharq Al-Awsat reports.

Asian market performance

South Korea's Kospi rose 0.5% to 6,873.06 points. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.4% to reach 24,613.27 points, while the Shanghai Composite increased 0.3% to 3,842.19 points. At the same time, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.7% and fell to 8,638.10 points.

In Tokyo, shares in companies that could benefit from sustained demand for computer chips and the development of AI have risen in recent sessions. They include Advantest, Tokyo Electron and SoftBank Group.

US markets and oil

On the previous day, US stock indexes mostly declined. The S&P 500 lost 0.3% and ended the third of the past four months in negative territory. The Dow Jones fell by 443.87 points, or 0.9%, to 50,906.05 points. The Nasdaq Composite, by contrast, rose 0.2%, adding 63.52 points to 26,861.06 points.

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US inflation stood at 3.4% year-on-year in August, lower than economists' expectation of 3.7%, although above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.

In the oil market, US WTI fell 0.56% to $89.91 per barrel, while Brent lost 0.35%, dropping to $97.69. Oil prices remain volatile because of uncertainty over the full restoration of commodity flows amid the war with Iran.

Iranian officials said they had received an official US response to Tehran's latest proposal to end the seven-month war, but did not specify its contents or say whether it was a rejection. US President Donald Trump publicly rejected Iran's proposal a few days earlier to open the Strait of Hormuz within a week if certain conditions were met.