This is CNBC’s live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Wednesday after key Wall Street benchmarks rose on easing U.S.-China trade tensions.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.68%, giving up gains after four consecutive positive sessions. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.53%.
Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was flat.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.96% while mainland China’s CSI 300 traded flat.
Wall Street rebounded after the U.S. and China reached a temporary truce on tariffs earlier this week. The development led to stocks surging with the Dow gaining more than 1,000 points Monday.
At current levels, however, Julius Baer strategists remain cautious, adding that the bank “does not share the prevailing optimism” regarding a quick resolution of the trade conflict.
“Even if new deals are announced, they are likely to involve complex conditions and protracted implementation timelines, making a full rollback of tariffs to pre-conflict levels unlikely,” the bank said in a Tuesday note.
Investors will be keeping an eye on Asian chip stocks after shares of Nvidia jumped following CEO Jensen Huang’s remarks that the company will sell more than 18,000 of its latest artificial intelligence chips to Saudi firm Humain, a new AI startup owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund.
U.S. stock futures were little changed as Wall Street looks to extend a strong start to the week. Futures tied to the S&P 500 were flat, as were Nasdaq 100 futures. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 30 points, or less than 0.1%.
Overnight stateside, the three major averages closed mixed. The S&P 500 rose, clawing back into positive territory for the year as investors extended the sharp gains seen in the previous session. The broad market index gained 0.72% to close at 5,886.55, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.61% to end at 19,010.08.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged, losing 269.67 points, or 0.64%, as a nearly 18% drop in shares of UnitedHealth pressured the benchmark.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans and Yun Li contributed to this report.
Samsung Electronics to acquire heating and cooling solutions provider FläktGroup for 1.5 billion euros
Samsung Electronics on Wednesday announced that it would acquire all shares of German-based FläktGroup, a leading heating and cooling solutions provider, for 1.5 billion euros ($1.68 billion) from European investment firm Triton.
Samsung said the acquisition would reinforce its commitment to its heating, ventilation and air conditioning business as the market experiences rapid growth.
“Our commitment is to continue investing in and developing the high-growth HVAC business as a key future growth engine,” said TM Roh, Acting Head of the Device eXperience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics.
Shares of Samsung Electronics added 0.7%.
Read the full story here.
—Dylan Butts
Japan and South Korea chip stocks climb after Nvidia rally
Major Japan and South Korea chip-related stocks advanced at the open after Nvidia shares rose following CEO Jensen Huang’s announcement that the company will sell more than 18,000 of its latest artificial intelligence chips to Saudi company Humain.
Advantest gained 4.78%, while Tokyo Electron and Lasertec climbed 1.90% and 2.44% respectively. Renesas Electron added 2.22%.
Japanese technology conglomerate Softbank, which owns a stake in British chip designer Arm, saw its shares jump over 5%.
Shares of South Korean memory chipmakers also rallied. SK Hynix gained 3.53%, while Samsung Electronics added 1.23%.
—Lee Ying Shan
South Korea unemployment dips to lowest level since November 2024
Unemployment in South Korea dropped to 2.9% in April from the previous month, marking its fourth straight month of decline and its lowest point since November 2024.
Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 2.7% in April, down from 2.9% in March.
Data from the country’s national statistics site revealed that the economically active population grew to 29.74 million people, up 0.6% year on year.
South Korea’s labor force participation rate stood at 65.1% in April, up 0.1 percentage points year on year.
— Lim Hui Jie
S&P 500 closes higher, turns positive for the year
Continuing investor optimism toward cooling trade tensions between the U.S. and China helped push the S&P 500 into the green for the year.
The broad market index advanced 0.72% to close at 5,886.55. The S&P 500 now has a gain of 0.08% in 2025.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.61% to finish the session at 19,010.08, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 269.67 points, or 0.64%, to 42,140.43.
— Brian Evans
Nvidia shares rally, putting stock on track to reenter the exclusive $3 trillion club
Nvidia shares jumped more than 6% on Tuesday after CEO Jensen Huang said the company will sell more than 18,000 of its latest artificial intelligence chips to Saudi Arabian firm Humain.
Huang’s announcement was made as part of a White House-led trip to the region that included President Donald Trump and other tech CEOs. Nvidia said its first deployment will use its GB300 Blackwell chips, some of its most advanced chips that were officially announced earlier this year. The chips will be used in a 500 megawatt data center in Saudi Arabia.
Nvidia’s recent surge has put the stock on track to close above a $3 trillion market cap for the first time since Feb. 28. The company has overtaken Apple to be the world’s second-most-valuable name, just behind Microsoft.
Nvidia shares have gained more than 20% this month. Still, the stock is in the red for the year and remains about 14% below its year high.
— Pia Singh
