Asian Stocks Set to Gain After US Chipmakers Rally: Markets Wrap

4wnz{zbd26cg5}]8o2irv43q_media_dl_1.png Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks looked poised to gain on Friday after a resurgence in giant chipmakers drove a rebound on Wall Street. Oil opened lower in early Friday trading. 

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Equity-index futures for Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong all pointed to higher opens. US stock futures were little changed after the S&P 500 added 0.8% and a gauge of semiconductor stocks climbed more than 3%. The tech-heavy Nasdag 100 closed up 1.6%. Treasuries gained Thursday, sending 10-year yields down three basis points to 4.55%.

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SK Hynix Inc. will be in focus after its US listing of American depositary receipts were priced at $149 each, according to a person familiar with the matter. The ADRs are set to begin when-issued trading Friday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol SKHYV.

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At $149 per ADR, the South Korean chipmaker’s offering would raise around $26.5 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That would be the largest ever first-time share sale in the US by a foreign company, topping Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s $25 billion debut, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

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West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 0.4% in early Asia trading. WTI sank 2% to end Thursday near $72 a barrel as traders priced in a limited US-Iran conflict, easing initial concerns that energy infrastructure would come under attack again. Brent settled down near $76. 

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Optimism toward technology 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. Micron Technology Inc. plans to increase spending on new plants in the US to $250 billion to help meet demand fueled by the artificial-intelligence boom.

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Meanwhile, with the US and Iran trading airstrikes, the market treated the attacks as another round of managed escalation based on the premise that the economy can absorb the shock, noted Elias Haddad at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

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Amid ongoing debate about the economy, inflation, rates and geopolitics, the market’s direction over the next month may come down to earnings, according to Anthony Saglimbene at Ameriprise.

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“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.”

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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.