Investing.com – Most Asian stocks rose on Tuesday as regional technology shares rose overnight on Wall Street, while Chinese markets lagged after the United States added two major technology companies to a blacklist.
Regional markets took positive cues from a strong overnight session on Wall Street as technology stocks recovered from a weak start to the year. Artificial intelligence darling NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:) performed outstandingly, reaching record levels ahead of CEO Jensen Huang’s speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
US stock index futures were moderately positive in Asian trading, with focus remaining on key data due later this week.
But despite Tuesday’s gains, most Asian markets still expect a weak start to 2025 amid ongoing concerns that U.S. interest rates will remain high for a long time.
Asian tech stocks follow US gains; NVIDIA in the spotlight
Technology stocks were the best performers in Asia on Tuesday, with Japan’s index rising 2.4% and South Korea’s index gaining 0.9%.
Japan’s index rose 1%.
Technology shares followed their U.S. peers higher, boosted by both hype around artificial intelligence and bargain buying after posting losses in December.
Nvidia’s Huang is expected to provide more details about Blackwell’s upcoming AI chips, and any comments on AI demand will also be closely monitored.
Artificial intelligence has been a key support point for the technology sector in the past year, with chipmakers benefiting from increased capital spending in the sector while software companies have sought to introduce their own artificial intelligence offerings.
Chinese stocks underperform Tencent, CATL added to US blacklist
China and indices moved in a narrow range, while Hong Kong’s G index fell 0.5%.
The Hang Seng Index was mainly impacted by losses in internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (HK:) and Tesla (NASDAQ:) battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (SZ:), which lost more than 5%.
Both companies were added to the US blacklist of companies linked to the Chinese military. While blacklisting does not impose any direct restrictions on firms, it does create barriers to doing business with US companies, which represent a large market for both Tencent and CATL.
The new additions to the blacklist have also raised concerns about deteriorating trade ties between the world’s largest economies, which could worsen amid higher trade tariffs under new US President Donald Trump.
Trump on Monday denied reports that his administration would impose less stringent trade tariffs than initially expected.
A renewed trade war bodes bad news for China and other Asian economies.
Broader Asian markets were mostly positive. Australia added 0.2% and Singapore’s index rose 0.1%.
The India index posted a moderately positive opening after the index fell 1.6% on Monday. Weak earnings of index heavyweights HDFC Bank Ltd. (NS:) and Dabur India Ltd. (NS:) dampened sentiment, especially ahead of larger Indian earnings expected to rise in the coming days.