Asian shares edged higher, shrugging off US weakness driven by anxiety over artificial intelligence’s impact on corporate profits, as investors bet the region’s chipmakers stand to benefit from supplying the AI buildout.
Shares in South Korea rose 1.9% and Taiwan jumped 2.7% as investors piled into chipmakers, viewing them as the “picks and shovels” of the AI supply chain. Chinese shares also gained on their return from Lunar New Year holidays, helping the broader MSCI Asia Pacific Index erase earlier losses to advance 0.1%. Futures contracts on the S&P 500 rose 0.3%, pointing to firmer sentiment after Monday’s decline in the underlying index. As risk appetite improved, gold slipped following a four-day rally and Treasuries pared gains from the US session, when investors had sought traditional haven assets. Bitcoin slipped to trade around $63,200. The moves in Asia — where markets have outperformed the US this year and largely sidestepped tech-led declines — came after US gauges fell Monday. Tech, delivery and payment shares slid following a Citrini Research report outlining potential AI risks across industries. The weakness was compounded by lingering uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The so-called AI scare trade has become a dominant market theme, with selling spreading beyond software to hit US insurance brokers, private credit firms, cybersecurity names and even real estate services stocks. In comparison, Asian shares have outperformed in 2026, with MSCI’s regional gauge rising 12% this year, while the S&P 500 Index has been little changed. That marks the Asian index’s strongest start to a year relative to the US benchmark on record. Investors are turning to AI infrastructure-related stocks like cablemakers, with that demand “offsetting the worries around software,” said Yugo Tsuboi, chief strategist at Daiwa Securities. The artificial intelligence “scare trade” erupted again in the US on Monday as growing concerns about the disruptive power of AI dragged down shares of companies and sent International Business Machines Corp. to its worst plunge in 25 years. It began after a bearish report was published over the weekend by a little-known firm called Citrini Research. At risk are intermediation businesses like insurers and banks. His firm had short positions in some of the companies cited in the report, Shah said, while owning “a lot” of semiconductor stocks poised to benefit. Shares of South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc. jumped 4.5% on Tuesday and reached the psychologically key 1 million won per-share price. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. advanced 3.4%, while Samsung Electronics Co. rose 2.8% — its ninth straight day of gains — to an all-time high. All three stocks hit an all-time high. In other corners of the market, Treasuries edged lower with the yield on the benchmark 10-year rising one basis point to 4.04%. The dollar held its gains from the previous session. Oil steadied as Trump said his preference was for a nuclear deal with Iran ahead of talks between the two nations this week. Meanwhile, questions over US tariffs added to the downbeat mood on Monday. After the Supreme Court’s decision Friday to nix Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs, the White House announced plans to replace the prior levies with a new, across-the-board 15% tariff on US imports. The European Union froze ratification of its US trade deal amid the uncertainty. The US is readying a spate of additional national security investigations that would enable Trump to impose new tariffs, as the administration seeks to rebuild his global tariff regime. US After Hours VIR +65.3% surging on earnings and trial results; MYGN +18.3%, SGHC +18.1%, KEYS +15.5%, MAX +14.8% higher on earnings; UCTT -12.5%, ZD -8.1%, HIMS -6.7%, PAY -5.3%, PRIM -5.2% lower on earnings.
Nikkei +0.92% Hang Seng -1.93% CSI +1.33% Shanghai +1.17% Shenzen +1.57%
Eur$ 1.1770 CNH 6.8929 CNY 6.8966 JPY 155.26 GBP 1.3481 CHF 0.7765 RUB 77.0944 TRY 43.8566 WTI$ 66.87 +0.83% Gold 5,170 -1.13% BTC 63,256 -2.03% ETH 1,827 -1.91%
S&P +0.22% Nasdaq +0.30% EuroStoxx +0.18% FTSE -0.05% Dax -0.06% SMI +0.36%
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