“The tech and AI theme continues to drive regional markets, with China tech giants leading gains again,” said Marvin Chen, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Investors may be seeing better growth potential as Alibaba’s accelerated investment plans show that China AI development is still in relatively early stages compared to the US.”
Meanwhile, the dollar slipped against all Group-of-10 peers. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said further interest-rate cuts are likely needed, but the US central bank should approach those with caution.
“Some measured language from Fed officials this week, chiefly Chairperson Jerome Powell, has sucked the momentum out of the equity market rally, which is well overdue for a little pull back,” wrote Kyle Rodda, a senior market analyst at Capital.com in Melbourne.
In European news, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he’ll run for re-election in 2027, despite polls that show his Socialist party would have a difficult time winning a majority in parliament.
Also, the UK’s gilt market jitters are starting to impact demand at government auctions as fiscal concerns grow ahead of the budget in November.