Kospi Roars 3% as Asia Shrugs off AI Selloff and a China CPI Surprise

With input from CNBC, ABC News, Bloomberg, and Al Jazeera.

Asia’s week started on a brighter note after last week’s AI valuation freak-out, with South Korea setting the pace. The Kospi jumped 3.02% to 4,073.24, powered by banks and insurers, while the chip titans did their bit too — Samsung added 2.76% and SK Hynix climbed 4.48%. Conglomerate plays were lively: SK Inc rallied about 9.29% and GS Holdings surged 11.79%.

The macro backdrop helped. China’s October inflation came in a touch warmer than expected, with headline CPI up 0.2% year on year and producer prices falling 2.1%, a slightly softer drop than forecast. That was enough to steady nerves across the region after tech-driven losses.

Japan joined the rebound. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.26% to 50,911.76 as investors chewed over Bank of Japan minutes that sounded more open to a near-term rate hike, even as policymakers stressed they need firmer evidence that underlying inflation has truly stuck. Yields on 10-year JGBs nudged up toward 1.7%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced about 1.5% and mainland shares edged higher, while Australia’s ASX 200 closed up 0.75% at 8,835.90. India pushed ahead as well; the Nifty 50 added roughly half a percent, and SoftBank-backed Lenskart’s market debut was restrained, up just about 1.36% from its IPO price of 402 rupees.

Stateside, the tone was mixed on Friday — tech lagged again — but tentative progress in the Senate toward ending the record US government shutdown helped lift futures and calm some of the macro jitters heading into the new week.