Investing.com — Asian stocks rose Wednesday as a rebound in artificial intelligence stocks spread across the region, with South Korea and Japan leading gains after strong results from the AI infrastructure provider revived confidence in demand for data center computing.
Strong profits from CoreWeave supported AI trading, but higher-than-expected U.S. inflation has reignited concerns about further rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
The increase reached 0.8%, extending a recovery which had recorded its strongest two-day increase in more than three months.
Technology stocks led the gains, while climbing 1.3% and rising 0.6%.
That of South Korea gained 2.6%, that of Japan by 1.4% and that of Japan by 0.9%. South Korean chipmakers led the gains, rising 3.6%, rising 3.6% and rising 2.4%.
In Japan, it gained 3.4%, grew by 3% and increased by 2.7%. gained 2.6%, while adding 3%. Hong Kong’s fell by 1.2%, while Hong Kong’s rose by 0.4% and that by 0.5%.
CoreWeave Boosts AI Optimism, But Inflation Revives Rate Concerns
Shares of CoreWeave jumped nearly 13% overnight after the AI computing provider reported quarterly results that beat analysts’ estimates and raised its annual forecast, indicating that demand for computing capacity remains strong despite concerns about constraints in the data center sector.
Anticipation has also been building around the planned listing of , with the company targeting a fully diluted valuation of $1.4 trillion.
Optimism was tempered by October’s US inflation data. Consumer prices rose 0.4% month-on-month, while core CPI rose 0.3%, beating expectations for a third consecutive month.
Markets now expect the Fed to hike rates by a quarter point in December, with the possibility of a larger hike, and about a three-quarter point hike by June.
Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said faster increases may be needed over the winter, while Gov. Christopher Waller said a 50 basis point increase in December may be warranted.
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee called the latest inflation report worrying. U.S. Treasury spot trading is closed Wednesday for a public holiday.
Chinese Tech Weakness Reflects More Than U.S. Rate Outlook
The pullback in Chinese and Hong Kong tech stocks reflects the combination of higher U.S. rate expectations and lingering concerns about AI valuations and competition.
Uncertainty over U.S.-China technology cooperation ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting on Nov. 18-19 weighed, while losses were compounded by brokers’ rating downgrades.
Chinese optical communications stocks, however, rebounded after reports that other technology companies were urging the Trump administration to drop proposed restrictions on imports of new Chinese optical transceivers used to connect servers, routers and switches in data centers. These gains brought several registrations to their highest levels since early November.
fell as much as 11% in Tokyo after reporting a 1.12 trillion yen ($7.1 billion) fiscal loss in the second quarter, including a $3.7 billion writedown on its U.S. data center projects amid falling AI valuations.
Other regional references were mixed. That of Australia increased by 0.1% and 0.7%. That of India and increased by 0.2% and 0.1% respectively.
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