HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks rose Tuesday after another decline for the Wall Street heavyweight Nvidia kept U.S. indexes mixed on Monday, even as the majority of stocks rebounded.
U.S. futures were higher while oil prices were little changed.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1% to 39,190.97 after Bank of Japan data on Tuesday showed the services producer price index in May was up 2.5 % compared to the same period last year, a slowdown from the 2.7% increase seen in April.
The Japanese yen remains the center of attention, with the U.S. dollar to Japanese yen exchange rate still trading near its lowest level in around 34 years. The yen rose to 159.41 per dollar on Tuesday. The dollar closed at 159.59 yen on Monday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5% to 18,109.80 and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.3% to 2,953.95.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.2% to 7,829.70. In South Korea, the Kospi rose 0.4% to 2,774.54.
Elsewhere, Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.3%, while Bangkok’s SET gained 0.4%.
On Monday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to 5,447.87. Declines in Nvidia and other winners of Wall Street’s artificial intelligence boom sent the Nasdaq Composite Index down 1.1% to 17,496.82, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0. 7% to 39,411.21.
Stocks of oil and gas companies were among the strongest on the market, with seven out of ten S&P 500 stocks rising. Exxon Mobil climbed 3% and oilfield services provider SLB gained 4% as oil prices held near their highest levels since April.
Financial companies were also strong. JPMorgan Chase added 1.3% and Wells Fargo climbed 1.6% ahead of results to be released later in the week for the Federal Reserve’s tests of how big banks would perform in a recession.
But declines in a handful of top stocks offset all those gains, and the spotlight was particularly on Nvidia’s 6.7% drop. This is a third consecutive decline for the chipmaker, which had climbed 1,000% since fall 2022.
The almost insatiable demand for Nvidia chips powering artificial intelligence applications has been a big reason because the record of the American stock market was recent, even though the growth of the economy slows down under weight high interest rates. But the AI ​​boom has been so frenzied that it has sparked concerns about a possible stock market bubble and unrealistically high expectations from investors.
Nvidia’s stock has been in decline since briefly overtaking Microsoft as Wall Street’s most valuable stock last week, and it has fallen nearly 13% in just three days. Because Nvidia has become so massive, its stock moves carry extra weight on the S&P 500 and other indexes. It was by far the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 on Monday.
Other AI beneficiaries have also given up some of their fantastic gains. Super Micro Computer fell 8.6%, cutting its gain for the year so far below 200%, to 190.9%.
Such rotation among stocks could be a sign of good health for the market, provided it can stay near its record highs. Market observers are concerned that Nvidia and a handful of other companies have recently been responsible for much of the S&P 500’s returns. They would prefer a market where many stocks share in the gains.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased slightly. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.23% from 4.26% Friday evening.
It is down from a peak of 4.70% in late April, which eased pressure on the stock market. Yields have fallen on hopes that inflation will slow enough to convince the Federal Reserve to lowered its main interest rate Later this year.
The Fed is keeping the federal funds rate at the highest level in more than 20 years, hoping to rein in the economy just enough to inflation under control.
In other trading Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 6 cents to $81.69 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude added 2 cents to $85.17 a barrel.
The euro rose from $1.0732 to $1.0736.
