CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stocks ended mostly higher on Monday even as investors kept taking profits on high-flying semiconductor and artificial intelligence-related stocks due to worries about potentially higher interest rates by the end of the year.
The U.S. dollar was on track for its best monthly performance in nearly a year ahead of the all-important U.S. nonfarm payrolls report and the annual central banker confab at Sintra, Portugal, due this week.
Gold edged lower to hover around $4,060 an ounce amid renewed uncertainty over the fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.
Brent crude futures held above $72 a barrel in Asian trading, recovering modestly from four-month lows hit last week as the United States and Iran agreed to stop attacking each other and meet Tuesday in Qatar's capital to work out their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz.
China's Shanghai Composite index rallied 1.16 percent to 4,073.90, led by consumer and healthcare shares.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 1.57 percent to 23,026.68 after reports suggested that Apple is lobbying the U.S. government for approval to purchase DRAM chips from Chinese memory manufacturer CXMT.
Japanese markets reversed course to end slightly higher as chip-related stocks cut early losses and data showed Japanese consumers spent well ahead of forecasts in May.
The Nikkei average closed 0.15 percent higher at 69,468.11 after South Korea announced a $576 billion semiconductor and AI investment plan, backed by Samsung and SK Hynix, to strengthen its global chip leadership. The broader Topix index rose 0.47 percent to 3,982.
SoftBank Group shares plunged 5.3 percent on news of a potential delay in OpenAI's IPO. Kioxia Holdings lost over 4 percent and Advantest fell 1.5 percent, while Tokyo Electron advanced 2.4 percent.
Seoul stocks ended slightly lower due to losses in the technology sector. The Kospi index closed 0.20 percent lower at 8,394.65 after hitting as low as 8,127.99 earlier in the day.
Samsung Electronics slumped 4.8 percent and SK Hynix dropped 1.7 percent after the Financial Supervisory Service indefinitely postponed the launch of weekly options for blue-chip stocks, citing extreme volatility.
Battery stocks rallied, with LG Energy Solution surging 20.8 percent and Samsung SDI climbing 12.5 percent.
Australian markets rose notably, driven by a surge in banking, technology and resource stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.68 percent to close at 8,823.40 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended 0.70 percent higher at 9,026.90.
Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index rose 0.37 percent to 13,545.56, reversing early losses.
U.S. stocks ended off their day's lows on Friday as lower oil prices on signs of improving shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz offset concerns over artificial intelligence (AI) spending and escalating memory and storage costs.
Investor sentiment was weighed down by Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX seeing its valuation drop and reports suggesting that Open AI, the maker of ChatGPT, was leaning toward holding off its highly anticipated IPO until next year.
The Dow and the S&P 500 both finished marginally lower while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.2 percent due to changing expectations around U.S. monetary policy.
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
