SEOUL, November 26 (AJP) - Asian stocks snapped out of their correction phase Wednesday as renewed euphoria over Alphabet’s “Gemini 3.0” reignited AI-driven appetite and lifted sentiment across the region.
The benchmark KOSPI gained 1.9 percent to close in on the 4,000 mark in the morning earnings session. Institutions returned in force, with domestic institutions buying 702 billion won and foreign institutions 1.223 trillion won. Confidence also improved after FX authorities took coordinated action to defend the weakening Korean won, with the finance ministry rounding up the National Pension Service and major brokerages. The dollar fell sharply by 5.9 won to 1,460.9 won as a result.
Tech shares were mixed. Samsung Electronics rose 1.2 percent to 100,500 won, reclaiming the hard-won 100,000-won threshold on expectations tied to its partnership with Broadcom, a key Alphabet ally in developing Gemini 3.0. SK hynix fell 1.8 percent to 500,900 won on worries that Alphabet’s breakthrough in creating its own inference chips could chip away at Nvidia’s halo—an unease reflected in Nvidia being the only Magnificent 7 stock to decline overnight, losing 2.6 percent.
Defense and reconstruction themes were strong following U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that the end of the Russia–Ukraine war is imminent. Infrastructure and nuclear-related stocks rallied sharply. Hyundai Engineering & Construction jumped 7.7 percent to 65,500 won, and Samsung C&T climbed 4.8 percent to 239,500 won. Doosan Enerbility advanced 6 percent to 78,000 won on renewed expectations for Ukraine’s nuclear-power rebuilding.
Defense stocks extended gains. Hanwha Aerospace added 2.4 percent to 880,000 won ahead of the imminent launch of its KSLV-II rocket, known as “Nuri.” Hyundai Rotem rose 1.75 percent on expectations of winning rolling-stock contracts tied to Ukraine’s reconstruction. LIG Nex1 gained 1.17 percent to 389,000 won, and Poongsan rose 2.2 percent to 96,400 won.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded 1.8 percent higher at 49,549 as of 10:30 a.m., mirroring Seoul’s rebound. But semiconductor stocks were sharply divided. Advantest, a chip-testing equipment maker, rose 1.7 percent to 19,410 yen ($124.5), while Ibiden, a major Nvidia partner, plunged 5.6 percent to 10,700 yen.
Taiwan’s TAIEX was up 1.54 percent at 27,327. TSMC rose 1.4 percent to 1,435 Taiwan dollars ($45.7), supported by expectations around producing AI chips for Alphabet and Broadcom, though upside momentum has been capped by reports that Alphabet may source future packaging from Intel. MediaTek surged 9.7 percent to 1,300 Taiwan dollars after Alphabet’s earlier signal that it would entrust the company with next-generation AI chip design.
Chinese markets were mixed. The SZSE Component rose 0.69 percent to 12,868 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.76 percent to 26,098, showing a characteristically sharper rebound for tech-heavy markets. The Shanghai Composite was flat at 3,872, up just 0.06 percent.
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