“`html
- KOSPI crashed 5.8% and Nikkei lost 4.2% on Thursday — Asia opens Tuesday facing a three-session gap against a strong US rebound
- Nasdaq surged 2.1% on Friday led by tech, which should offer relief to TAIEX and HKEX tech names at the open
- USD/JPY at 162 keeps pressure on Japanese exporters while oil at $70 supports energy names after Iran strike headlines
Asia closed Thursday with its ugliest session in weeks — KOSPI down nearly 6%, the Nikkei off 4% — but the US spent Friday ripping higher on a tech-led rally that now hands the region a three-day gap to price in as markets reopen Tuesday.
Where Asia Closed Yesterday
South Korea took the hardest hit. The KOSPI plunged 5.81%, its steepest single-session decline this year, dragging Samsung and SK Hynix lower as global semiconductor sentiment soured. Taiwan’s TAIEX wasn’t far behind at -3.64%, with TSMC and its AI supply chain bearing the weight.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 4.15% to 69,360, pressured by the same tech rotation and an ever-weakening yen that’s now pushing USD/JPY to 162. The Shenzhen Component fell 3.44% and the Shanghai Composite lost 2.26%, with mainland selling concentrated in growth and tech names. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.76%, a more measured decline but still red across the board.
The defensive markets held up. Australia’s ASX 200 eked out a 0.18% gain to 8,764, supported by banks and a flat Aussie dollar. India’s Nifty 50 added 0.14%, and New Zealand’s NZX 50 climbed 0.64%. Singapore’s Straits Times dipped 0.52% — mild relative to the carnage in Northeast Asia.
US Overnight Snapshot
Wall Street offered a clear counter-narrative on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite surged 2.07% and the S&P 500 gained 1.18%, powered by a 2.37% jump in the Technology sector (XLK). Tesla ripped higher after a long-awaited update to its self-driving technology, and Rocket Lab announced an $8 billion acquisition to challenge SpaceX’s Starlink — both headlines that kept risk appetite alive through the close.
The VIX dropped 4.13% to 17.6, well below the 20 stress threshold, signaling that Friday’s buying had conviction behind it. Small caps lagged, with the Russell 2000 slipping 0.29%, and Materials (XLB) fell 1.82% — a split that favors tech-heavy Asian indices over resource plays.
For Asia, the Nasdaq’s strength is the lead signal. TAIEX and KOSPI semiconductor names gapped down hard on Thursday; the US Friday session suggests those losses were overdone.
Commodity + FX Watch
Oil climbed 1.55% to $70.30 as weekend headlines around Trump’s Iran strikes kept a geopolitical bid under crude. That supports ASX energy names and could lift Woodside and Santos at the open, though the broader ASX reaction will depend on whether the risk-on tone from US equities carries over.
Gold pulled back 1.24% to around $4,030, consistent with the move out of haven assets and into equities. Copper edged up 0.55% — a modest positive for ASX miners and a signal that industrial demand expectations haven’t collapsed despite Asia’s Thursday selloff.
On FX, AUD/USD held steady near 0.69 — no alarm bells for Australian equities. USD/JPY at 162 remains the regional pain trade. Every tick higher squeezes Japanese corporate margins and keeps the Bank of Japan intervention watch alive. A weaker yen may help exporters on paper, but at these levels the market treats it as a destabilizing force.
What to Watch Today
- KOSPI catch-up trade: Korea was Thursday’s worst performer at -5.81%. With the Nasdaq up 2% on Friday, Samsung and SK Hynix should see relief buying — but watch whether institutional selling resumes after the gap-up fades.
- Australia’s Nvidia link: Firmus Technologies struck an AI access deal with Nvidia over the weekend. Any ASX-listed AI or data center names could catch a sympathy bid on the headline.
- USD/JPY 162 and BoJ rhetoric: The yen is at its weakest point in months. Any verbal intervention from Japanese officials ahead of the Tokyo open could whip Nikkei futures in either direction.
- China stimulus watch: Shanghai and Shenzhen dropped over 2% and 3% respectively on Thursday. With Q2 ending today, any month-end policy signals from Beijing — or their absence — will set the tone for mainland reopening.
Bottom Line
The overnight US session hands Asia a clear risk-on setup for Tuesday. Tech-heavy indices like KOSPI and TAIEX have the most ground to recover after Thursday’s sharp selloff, and a Nasdaq +2% print gives them room to gap higher. The caveat is the yen — USD/JPY at 162 keeps Japan on edge, and any intervention noise could override the positive US lead. Luna3 readers should expect a green open across most of the region, with Korea and Taiwan leading the bounce.
Read next: Asia Pacific Markets · What Is an ETF? · What Is HBM Memory?
Get early access to Orbit
Orbit is Luna3.ai’s AI-augmented research engine. 12 algorithmic signals + a gradient-boosted ML model + an agentic LLM that reads each top pick’s filings and writes a daily thesis with conviction score and catalyst proximity. Three regimes, three playbooks — growth in expansion, defensives in late-cycle, recovery plays at panic bottoms. The 3 in Luna3.ai.
No spam. Unsubscribe any time.
“`
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!