Asian stocks soar with ‘risk on’ rally after US-Iran peace deal

{"text":[[{"start":8.65,"text":"Japanese stocks surged more than 5 per cent to a record high on Monday, as market euphoria over last week’s IPO of SpaceX combined with relief over the possible reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to create a huge “risk on” rally."}],[{"start":23.8,"text":"The Nikkei 225 index soared 5.4 per cent in the first 90 minutes of trading to 69,600 points — far beyond what many market strategists had believed possible when they made forecasts at the start of the year."}],[{"start":38.4,"text":"Meanwhile, the broader Topix, which tracks thousands of Japanese shares across the entire market, broke above 4,000 points. "}],[{"start":46.3,"text":"Oil prices also tumbled on Monday after President Donald Trump said the US and Iran had agreed a deal to reopen the vital waterway, with Brent crude down close to 4 per cent at under $84 a barrel."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":59.349999999999994,"text":"Elsewhere in the region, South Korea’s Kospi jumped close to 6 per cent as the index resumed its role as a bellwether of global investors’ enthusiasm for AI infrastructure. Samsung Electronics was up more than 5 per cent, while rival chipmaker SK Hynix gained close to 7 per cent."}],[{"start":78.44999999999999,"text":"The buying in Tokyo focused most heavily on Japanese companies seen as critical to the semiconductor, AI and data centre industries, pushing the likes of Murata Manufacturing up 17 per cent and SoftBank more than 12 per cent higher."}],[{"start":93.94999999999999,"text":"Shares in Japan’s two biggest airlines, JAL and ANA, both surged on investor bets that the opening of the strait will relieve concerns over both the price and availability of jet fuel after months of flight cancellations and soaring ticket prices have spooked the travel market."}],[{"start":111.44999999999999,"text":"The standout stock, however, remained Kioxia, Japan’s largest producer of flash memory, whose shares have risen more than 4,300 per cent over the past 12 months. "}],[{"start":122.69999999999999,"text":"The former Toshiba Memory is now Japan’s most valuable company after surging 10.9 per cent, pushing its valuation close to ¥50tn ($312bn)."}],[{"start":134.75,"text":"Bruce Kirk, Japan equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, said that investors’ rush to maximise their exposure to AI-related stocks continued to be the big market move, with Tokyo stocks benefiting from the “spillover” flows from the rest of the region."}],[{"start":149.6,"text":"Investors had maximised their exposure to tech names in smaller markets such as South Korea and Taiwan, Kirk said, and were looking for liquidity in their eagerness to allocate even more funds to Asia-based tech. “On that front, Japanese equities are the only game in town.”"}],[{"start":174.14999999999998,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1781505344_5058.mp3"}