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July 10, 2026 - 03:56
5 minutes
(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks gained as investors piled back into semiconductor stocks on renewed optimism over AI-driven demand. The yen strengthened.The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 1.3%, led by a 4.6% rally in South Korea’s Kospi, though the regional benchmark remained on track for a weekly loss. SK Hynix Inc. rose 2.5% in Seoul after raising $26.5 billion in its American depositary share offering. Futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index slipped 0.1%, signaling a more cautious tone.Japan’s long-term bond yields fell and the yen strengthened after Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said the government wants to encourage pension funds to increase investment in domestic financial assets. The yen gained 0.4% to trade around 161.80 per dollar.Elsewhere, Brent crude traded around $76 a barrel, holding Thursday’s decline as traders judged the US-Iran conflict was unlikely to escalate into a broader disruption to energy supplies. That helped bonds extend their gains, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasuries falling two basis points to 4.53%.Optimism toward technology shares resurfaced as investors focused on signs that the AI investment boom remains intact after a sharp bout of selling in chip stocks earlier this week.Amid ongoing debate about inflation, interest rates and geopolitics, the market’s direction over the next month may come down to earnings, according to Anthony Saglimbene, a strategist at Ameriprise.“Companies will need to do more than just beat estimates,” he said. “They will need to show that margins are holding at high levels, that guidance remains firm and probably even better than analysts currently project, and that tech-led profit growth still has enough breadth to support the market’s valuation.”Spending by chip companies is at the center of that debate. In the latest capital expenditure announcement, Micron Technology Inc. said it plans to increase spending on new plants in the US to $250 billion to help meet demand fueled by the artificial-intelligence boom.SK Hynix’s ADR sale is expected to help fund growing spending plans amid soaring demand for equipment used in AI computing. The company and Samsung Electronics Co. are poised to ramp up investment in South Korea as part of a government-led initiative worth $880 billion. The ADRs are set to begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol SKHYV, which will change to SKHY when they begin regular trading July 13.AI is likely to remain a key driver of markets during the second half of 2026, but the narrative is evolving, and this transition may create a more selective environment, according to Jeff Buchbinder at LPL Financial. Investors should focus less on who is spending the most and more on who is generating measurable returns from those investments, he said.Meanwhile, with the US and Iran exchanging airstrikes, the market treated the attacks as another round of managed escalation based on the premise that the economy can absorb the shock, said Elias Haddad at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.Corporate Highlights:Meta Platforms Inc. unveiled a version of its most-advanced AI model that includes a new paid tier for developers, marking the first time it has charged businesses for access to its models and providing a new revenue stream. OpenAI is introducing a new AI agent that’s meant to field a wider range of complex tasks for hours at a time, bolstering its push to appeal to more business professionals. S&P Global Ratings downgraded Oracle Corp. to the lowest investment-grade rating, moving the firm to the cusp of junk status amid growing spending on AI. Starbucks Corp. is developing in-house tools with the help of AI that could replace some software applications it now buys from companies such as Microsoft Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. Some of the main moves in markets:StocksS&P 500 futures were little changed as of 10:53 a.m. Tokyo time Japan’s Topix rose 0.9% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.8% The Shanghai Composite rose 0.5% Euro Stoxx 50 futures were little changed CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2% The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1448 The Japanese yen rose 0.4% to 161.69 per dollar The offshore yuan rose 0.2% to 6.7844 per dollar CryptocurrenciesBitcoin rose 1% to $63,879.03 Ether rose 1.6% to $1,776.2 BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.54% Japan’s 10-year yield declined 10 basis points to 2.775% Australia’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.86% CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude was little changed Spot gold fell 0.2% to $4,115.74 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.–With assistance from Stephen Kirkland.©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
