The Asian stock market surged on Thursday as the Australian dollar climbed to an eight-month high, driven by strong corporate earnings and renewed optimism over global trade, which boosted appetite for higher-yielding assets.
Tokyo’s Topix index reached a record high, mirroring new all-time highs on Wall Street overnight. The index was trading 1.66 percent higher as of 5:38 GMT. This major rally in Asian and American stock markets followed the announcement of a trade agreement between Japan and the U.S., fueling speculation that more deals could emerge.
Meanwhile, Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures advanced after Google parent Alphabet posted better-than-expected earnings, marking a strong start to the “Magnificent Seven” earnings season.
Asian shares surge as trade tensions ease
The U.S. has also reached tariff deals with the Philippines and Indonesia, and an agreement with the European Union is expected soon.
The European Union and the United States are nearing a trade agreement that would introduce a 15 percent tariff on European imports, while exempting certain products, according to European Commission officials. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that American and Chinese officials are scheduled to meet in Stockholm next week for further trade discussions.
In the Asian stock market, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.51 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei surged 1.52 percent. South Korea’s KOSPI was also up 0.05 percent. In China, the CSI300 INDEX rose 0.79 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.57 percent.
Read: Dubai 24-carat gold prices fall to AED407.5 as global rates dip on easing trade tensions
Magnificent Seven results in focus
In the U.S. stock market, investor attention is shifting to results from the “Magnificent Seven” tech giants, whose past performances have driven markets to record highs. These earnings are being closely watched for insights into spending and returns related to artificial intelligence (AI).
Alphabet delivered strong results, surpassing expectations and highlighting robust demand for its cloud computing services, prompting the company to raise its capital spending outlook. In contrast, Tesla reported its steepest quarterly sales drop in over ten years and profits that fell short of analyst estimates.
Alphabet shares gained 1.72 percent in after-hours trading, while Tesla stock was down 4.44 percent. NVIDIA gained 2.25 percent, Amazon was up 0.36 percent, Microsoft rose 0.12 percent and Meta was up 1.24 percent.
In the European stock market, the EURO STOXX 50 was up 1.02 percent, while Germany’s DAX rose 0.83 percent.
