Chipmaker Surge and Tech Woes: Asian Markets React to Wall Street's Highs

Stocks experienced a mixed bag in Asia on Friday, mirroring the latest record highs on Wall Street, notably driven by substantial gains in chipmaker stocks.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan briefly surpassed the 41,000 mark earlier in the day but ultimately closed 0.2% lower at 40,888.43.

However, Chinese property and technology sectors dragged down markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong, with the Hang Seng index dropping 2% to 16,527.85 and the Shanghai Composite declining 1% to 3,048.03.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia dipped 0.2% to 7,770.60, while India's Sensex rose modestly by 0.3% to 72,855.32.

Elsewhere, Bangkok's SET index saw a marginal 0.1% decline, while Taiwan's Taiex index edged up by 0.2%.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 extended its winning streak, rising by 0.3% to hit a new all-time high of 5,241.53, marking the third consecutive day of record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.7% to 39,781.37, while the Nasdaq composite increased by 0.2% to 16,401.84, both also setting new records.

Micron led the charge among chipmakers, surging by 14.1% following robust quarterly results and an optimistic profit forecast for the current quarter, buoyed by the surge in artificial intelligence (AI) demand.

Chipmaker Broadcom also made significant gains, rising by 5.6%, primarily driven by its investor presentation focusing on AI opportunities.

Reddit, in its debut as a publicly traded stock, soared by 48.4%, attracting considerable attention.

However, tech giant Apple faced a setback, declining by 4.1% after the Justice Department announced an antitrust lawsuit, accusing the company of monopolistic practices in the smartphone market.

Other notable movers included Accenture, which dropped 9.3% despite reporting strong quarterly profits, and Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants, which fell 6.5% following a disappointing revenue forecast.

Looking ahead, investors remain attentive to upcoming inflation data releases, particularly the U.S. personal consumption and expenditures data for February, which will provide further insights into inflation trends and potential implications for monetary policy decisions.

In the commodities market, U.S. benchmark crude oil slipped to $80.54 per barrel, while Brent crude fell to $84.70 per barrel in early trading.

Currency markets saw the U.S. dollar weakening against the Japanese yen and the euro, trading at 151.39 yen and $1.0822 respectively.

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