Key facts
- Asian shares rallied on Friday, with South Korea's Kospi up 2.8% and Japan's Nikkei 225 up 0.9%.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high of 52,900.07 on Thursday.
- U.S. employers added 57,000 jobs last month, falling short of expectations.
- Some AI-related stocks like Micron Technology and Nvidia extended losses, while others like Samsung Electronics gained.
- Bitcoin prices rose approximately 2%, boosting crypto-related stocks like Robinhood and Coinbase.
Asian shares rallied on Friday, buoyed by a record close for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a recovery in some artificial intelligence-related stocks. U.S. futures pointed to a moderately higher open, and oil prices also saw gains.
South Korea's Kospi, which had fallen nearly 8% on Thursday, recovered some ground, climbing 2.8%. Major components Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix saw significant gains of 7% and 4.9%, respectively. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 advanced 0.9%, though chipmaker Tokyo Electron slipped 2.5% while memory maker Kioxia jumped 6.6%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 1.7%, and the Shanghai Composite added 0.7%. Taiwan's Taiex was an exception, falling 0.6%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.3%.
On Thursday, U.S. markets saw mixed results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a new record, gaining 1.1% to 52,900.07. However, continued declines in some computer chip companies, prominent in the AI boom, weighed on other indexes. The S&P 500 finished virtually unchanged, edging up by less than 0.1%, despite seven out of ten stocks within the index rising. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.8%.
A report showing U.S. employers added 57,000 jobs last month, below the expected 100,000 and a slowdown from May's pace, provided some support. This weaker-than-expected job growth could ease inflationary pressures, potentially reducing the need for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates multiple times this year, which is generally favorable for investors.
Stocks in the cryptocurrency sector also performed well, with Bitcoin prices rising about 2% after a recent dip. Robinhood Markets and Coinbase Global saw notable stock gains. However, the broader market was still impacted by declines in AI-focused chip companies. Micron Technology erased an early gain to drop 5.5%, Nvidia fell 1.4%, and Lam Research sank 10.2%, with these large-cap stocks significantly influencing the S&P 500's performance.
In other trading, Brent crude gained 0.6% to $72.26 a barrel, and U.S. benchmark crude rose 0.5% to $69.05 a barrel. The dollar weakened against the Japanese yen, falling to 161.17, while the euro saw a slight increase to $1.1439.