HONG KONG – Asian stocks mostly moved higher on Friday, recovering from the previous day’s technology-led sell-off. Indonesia’s market, however, plunged after an index provider warned that the country could lose its emerging-market classification.
MSCI said it may downgrade Indonesia from its “emerging market” status, intensifying fears that investors could pull capital from the country.
U.S. stock futures edged upward after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said the artificial intelligence revolution could deliver substantial benefits to both the U.S. and global economies.
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi surged 3.6%, rebounding from a 7.6% drop the previous session as AI-related shares suffered heavy selling. Samsung Electronics gained 4.2%, while memory-chip producer SK Hynix rose 3.5%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 1.9% to 65,658.59 after sliding 4.9% a day earlier. SoftBank Group, an investor in OpenAI, climbed 1.7%. Tokyo Electron, which supplies chipmaking equipment, added 2.8%, while memory-chip manufacturer Kioxia Holdings increased 3.2%.
Technology shares across Asia strengthened as losses in U.S. artificial intelligence stocks eased.
Speaking Friday at an IMF and World Bank gathering in Bangkok, Warsh said artificial intelligence could have a positive effect on economies around the world.
“I’d say, the advent of this new technology is probably the most consequential change to the U.S. and the global economy in my lifetime,” Warsh said. “There really is, I think, a huge benefit to the global economy, the U.S. economy, over the horizon.”
Taiwan’s Taiex, another major beneficiary of the AI boom, rose 0.6%. TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., slipped 0.4% despite reporting record quarterly profits on Thursday and saying demand for AI technology remained exceptionally strong.
Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite index plunged more than 10% to its lowest level in years after MSCI said maintaining the country’s emerging-market classification would be “no longer appropriate.”
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.2% to 24,353.69, while the Shanghai Composite gained 1% to reach 3,742.66.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.1% to 8,812.90.
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India’s Sensex edged 0.2% higher.
On Thursday, Wall Street’s S&P 500 rose 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.1%, while the technology-focused Nasdaq composite gained 0.1%.
Losses among AI and semiconductor stocks moderated. American AI cloud provider CoreWeave fell as much as 9.5% in early trading before reversing course to finish 5.9% higher. Nvidia ended 1.8% lower after dropping as much as 3.8%, while Broadcom declined 0.6% and AMD, or Advanced Micro Devices, fell 1.5%.
Oil prices steadied but remained elevated, with global supplies still under pressure as the United States and Iran have yet to reach an agreement to end the Iran war.
The International Energy Agency said Thursday that its members had agreed to release the roughly 100 million barrels remaining from its March pledge in a timely manner. The total release will exceed the 400 million barrels originally planned.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 0.4% to $105.46 a barrel. That remains well above its level of about $72 a barrel in late February, before the war began.
Oil continues to draw support from uncertainty in the Middle East and concerns about shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, which have led the market to “pricing in a significant risk premium,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said in a Friday commentary.
The U.S. dollar slipped to 157.83 Japanese yen from 158 yen. The euro traded at $1.1228, up from $1.1220.
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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.
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