Sunset scene of light trails traffic speeds through an intersection in Gangnam center business district of Seoul at Seoul city, South Korea
Mongkol Chuewong | Moment | Getty Images
Shares of South Korean chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics hit record highs Friday, after a near-weeklong holiday, boosted by a series of artificial intelligence deals.
SK Hynix shares pared gains to rise 8.22%, while Samsung Electronics rose over 6% to hit fresh records, according to data from FactSet.
The two companies are set to benefit from an OpenAI and Advanced Micro Devices deal that could see Sam Altman’s company take a 10% stake in AMD. Shares of AMD rallied on the news and are up more than 40% so far this week.
Nvidia shares are also up 2.6% this week, after CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC that demand has risen in recent months. Huang also confirmed the company’s involvement in funding Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, and said that he’s “super excited about the financing opportunity they’re doing.”
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed mixed Friday, tracking Wall Street declines as investors assessed the state of the economy.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1.01% to close at 48,088.8, while the Topix declined 1.85% to end the trading day at 3,197.59. South Korea’s Kospi added 1.73% to end at 3,610.6 after coming back from a holiday. The small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.61% to close at 859.49.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 lost 0.13% to end the trading day at 8,958.3.
The Hang Seng Index slid 1.84%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 lost 1.97% to close at 4,616.83.
Overnight, the three major averages declined. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite pulled back from fresh all-time intraday highs on Thursday, with both indexes taking a breather from their gains in the previous session as the U.S. government shutdown continues.
The broad market index dropped 0.28% to close at 6,735.11, while the tech-heavy index slid 0.08% to finish at 23,024.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, declined 243.36 points, or 0.52%, to close at 46,358.42.
— CNBC’s Alex Harring and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
