Nikkei hits record high.
Japanese stocks led gains in Asia on Wednesday, racing to fresh highs on growing optimism over more fiscal stimulus from Tokyo.
Chinese stocks reversed early gains after Beijing altered a key margin financing policy to make it more difficult to buy shares on credit.
The move largely offset gains in chipmaking stocks and positive cues from upbeat December trade data.
Broader Asian markets were muted as a tech-fueled rally in South Korea cooled. Regional stocks also took negative cues from Wall Street, which fell from record highs overnight on a rout in bank shares.
S&P 500 Futures fell 0.2% by 00:38 ET (05:38 GMT). Focus is on more bank earnings due on Wednesday and Thursday, while U.S. producer inflation data is also on tap.
Japan’s Nikkei, TOPIX hit record highs on snap election speculation
Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.6% to a record high of 54,522.0 points, while the TOPIX rose over 1% to a peak of 3,641.50 points. Both indexes extended sharp gains from the prior session.
Gold scales new record high.
Gold prices climbed in Asian trading on Wednesday to scale fresh record highs as steady U.S. inflation data cemented expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts this year and geopolitical tensions in Iran underpinned safe-haven demand.
Spot gold rose more than 1% to a record high of $4,640.13 an ounce by 01:56 ET (06:56 GMT), surpassing the previous session’s all-time high of $4,634.33/oz.
U.S. Gold Futures for March advanced 1% to $4,643.10/oz.
Silver prices outperformed, surging over 4% to a fresh record high of $91.56/oz on Wednesday. Strong industrial demand and safe-haven flows have added momentum to the rally in silver.
Platinum was also upbeat, rising as much as 4% to $2,444.21, nearing record peaks touched last month.
US approves Nvidia H200 chip exports to China.
The Trump administration on Tuesday gave a formal green light to China-bound sales of Nvidia’s second most powerful AI chips, putting in place a rule that will likely kickstart shipments of the H200 despite deep concerns among China hawks in Washington.
According to the regulations, the chips will be reviewed by a third-party testing lab to confirm their technical AI capabilities before they can be shipped to China, which cannot receive more than 50% of the total amount of chips sold to American customers.
Nvidia will need to certify there are enough H200s in the U.S., while Chinese customers must demonstrate “sufficient security procedures” and cannot use the chips for military purposes. Those conditions had not been established previously.
In a statement, Nvidia said the move by U.S. President Donald Trump “strikes a thoughtful balance that is great for America” and will help the company compete in the global chip market.
“The administration’s critics are unintentionally promoting the interests of foreign competitors on U.S. entity lists – America should always want its industry to compete for vetted and approved commercial business, supporting real jobs for real Americans,” Nvidia said.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump announced last month that he would allow the chip sales in exchange for a 25% fee for the U.S. government. The decision drew fire from China hawks across the U.S. political spectrum over concerns the chips would supercharge Beijing’s military and erode the U.S. advantage in artificial intelligence..
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