Asian stocks surged on Friday as part of the global equity rally that saw market highs across the US, Europe, and Japan. Mainland China, Hong Kong, Australia, and South Korea all saw stock gains, while the Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday. These bullish trends built on the record-breaking gains in the US, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes hitting new highs.
Nvidia Corp., the most valuable chipmaker, saw a surge of 16% during the AI-driven tech craze, resulting in a significant boost to its market capitalization. Furthermore, the tech rally bolstered the valuation of the Nasdaq 100 to an elevated level, while a similar situation was seen with the S&P 500. This climb in stock value, coupled with fresh data on the profound demand for AI infrastructure, led to the surge in Nvidia shares as investors and traders were impressed by the company’s compelling top-down performance. Although there is no denying growing skepticism about China’s economic slowdown and declining housing market, it seems as though markets have been shrugging off these concerns, allowing them to maintain the bullish trend.
Nvidia’s market capitalization has seen a significant increase this year, surpassing $700 billion and valuing the company at $1.9 trillion, as investors place their bets on the continued dominance of Nvidia in AI computing. This move is largely fueled by the huge demand for AI computing across various end-users and industries. Other tech giants like Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms, Microsoft Corp., and Alphabet’s Google are Nvidia’s prominent customers, responsible for close to 40% of the company’s revenue, as these companies pour investments into AI hardware. With the rising momentum play, markets will likely continue to navigate through the ongoing tech rally as a point of focus amidst the lofty stock valuations.