SINGAPORE, May 21, 2026, 14:50 (SGT)
Asian stocks climbed Thursday, with gains in chipmakers after Nvidia’s outlook kept interest in AI plays and Samsung Electronics avoided a strike seen as a risk for the global chip supply chain. MSCI’s Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan index gained 2.6%. South Korea’s KOSPI rallied more than 7%. Taiwan stocks rose 3.5%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 3.6%. Dan Ives at Wedbush said it’s “Nvidia’s world with everybody else paying rent.” Tony Sycamore at IG called market moves “relatively muted.” Reuters
Stocks climbed, breaking a stretch of losses for risk assets. U.S. equities gained overnight, helped by falling oil prices and lower Treasury yields as traders bet on movement toward an Iran agreement. That opened the door for buyers in Asia, who stepped up in tech and exporter names.
Nvidia said it sees second-quarter revenue at $91 billion, give or take 2%, topping the $86.84 billion LSEG estimate. The company kept attention on strong chip demand for artificial intelligence, or software that does tasks that usually need human judgment. “Nvidia delivered another beat,” Jacob Bourne at eMarketer said. CEO Jensen Huang told analysts Nvidia’s growth could outpace the cloud spend of its biggest customers. Investors stayed focused on AI inference chips, tracking moves from AMD and Intel. Reuters
Samsung gave Seoul its gains. Shares jumped nearly 8% after the company and its union reached a tentative deal, pausing plans for an 18-day strike by about 48,000 workers. The proposal goes to a union vote from May 22 through May 27. Ryu Young-ho at NH Investment & Securities said the news was a relief for investors, but warned it was “not entirely positive” due to higher labour costs. Reuters
Peer stocks in the chip sector also saw gains. SK Hynix jumped 11.3%, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co rose 3%, according to AP. The companies are closely tied to the same chip cycle.
Japan’s exports jumped 14.8% in April from a year earlier, topping estimates and stretching gains to eight straight months. U.S. and China demand lifted exports. Still, Koya Miyamae at SMBC Nikko Securities said rising crude and petroleum-product prices mean “trade deficits are likely to widen.” Reuters
Japan’s flash manufacturing PMI came in at 54.5 in May, down from 55.1 in April, while the services PMI dropped to 50.0, snapping a stretch of 13 months of growth. Annabel Fiddes at S&P Global Market Intelligence said the “broader economy could come under greater strain” if costs keep climbing and demand drops. Reuters
Australia trailed chip-focused bourses. The S&P/ASX 200 added 1.6%. But April jobs data weighed on the Australian dollar as employment dropped by 18,600, sending the jobless rate up to 4.5%, the highest since November 2021. Krishna Bhimavarapu at State Street Investment Management said the “labour market narrative may be shifting faster than expected,” which could see the Reserve Bank of Australia hold off on a June hike. Reuters
Fed rate worries lingered. Minutes showed more officials at the Federal Reserve are considering another interest rate hike if inflation does not get down to the 2% target. The equity rally seen earlier in the day was still tied to whether bond markets stay quiet.
But risks remain. Nvidia dropped 1.3% after hours with some traders left wanting more from its forecast, Samsung’s wage agreement is still running into shareholder resistance, and the oil market stays vulnerable to problems near the Strait of Hormuz. Asia was back to buying chips today. That could change tomorrow.
