Asian Markets Mostly Rose Following China-US Heads' Talks and Tech Stocks' Rally

 

Asian markets mostly advanced on Tuesday (Jan. 7), driven by a surge in technology shares following the Wall Street tech rally. Moreover, investors were relieved about US President-elect Donald Trump's claim of more friendly tariffs than previously perceived.

 

Tech-heavy markets outperformed, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index climbing 1.97% and South Korea’s KOSPI gaining 0.14%. The upswing was fueled by investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence stocks as industry leader Nvidia $NVDA provided a record-breaking performance and updates on the next-generation GPUs and Blackwell AI chips manufacturing.

 

Chinese markets were varied. The Shanghai Composite index jumped 0.71% up, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng plunged 1.22%. The market losses were caused by sharp declines in Tencent Holdings (HK: 0700) and Tesla's battery supplier CATL (SZ: 300750) after being added to a Chinese military company list by the US, which could endanger the cooperation between Chinese companies and American companies. The move reignited fears of escalating tensions between the U.S. and China. However, China's major stock exchanges asked some large mutual funds to limit stock sell-offs in early 2025 to calm the market, the sources said. The news could help the market rise.

 

Regarding China-US relations, on Monday, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he had met with China's President Xi Jinping, expressing his belief that he and Xi must have a give-and-take relationship and reiterating that China has been cheating the US economically. China's Foreign Ministry responded by saying that China attaches great importance to Trump's remarks.

 

Elsewhere in Asia, as of 4:48 pm SGT, Singapore’s Straits Times Index adds 0.04%. FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rises 0.26%.