Asia report: Stocks mixed but tech rally boosts Tokyo shares

(Sharecast News) - Asian stock markets were mixed on Wednesday with Chinese indices subdued ahead of a national holiday, though shares in Japan jumped due to big gains in the tech sector. The Hang Seng rose 0.4% and the Shanghai Composite gained 0.3%, while the Sensex was flat, the KOSPI fell 0.5% and the STI dropped 0.7%.

However, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 1.9% to a six-week high of 66,753.72, bolstered by renewed buying in the AI space.

Tech investor SoftBank jumped nearly 7% as enthusiasm around AI stocks was boosted by fresh product announcements from OpenAI, in which the Japanese group is a major investor. OpenAI this week scrapped the launch of a new AI model over safety concerns, but unveiled a new suite of tolls, including the AI agent "dots".

The company is currently one of the largest stakeholders in the ChatGPT maker, and just last week raised $11bn through bond issuance to fund its OpenAI investments.

Also helping sentiment was a retreat in US bond yields after government borrowing costs surged to multi-decade highs the previous session.

"Global equity markets mounted a sharp relief rally on Wednesday, pausing a multi-week drawdown as sovereign bond yields steadied ahead of a critical US inflation print," said Patrick Munnelly, partner of market strategy at Tickmill Group.

"MSCI's Asia Pacific Index surged 1.0%-its strongest single-day performance in three weeks-with 10 of 11 sectors advancing."

However, not all AI-related stocks were higher, with South Korean heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix providing a drag in Seoul.