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Informist, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Equity Alert: Most indices in Asia rise; Nikkei 225 hits record high   

MUMBAI--0810 IST--Most equity indices in Asia were higher in early trade Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged past the 47,000 level for the first time after fiscally dovish candidate Sanae Takaichi was elected as the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, setting her on course to become Japan's the first female prime minister. Markets in South Korea were closed on account of the Chuseok Holiday and the National Day Golden Week holiday continued in China.

The Nikkei 225 index was up 4.4% in early trade with real estate and technology stocks among the biggest gainers. Shares of Yaskawa Electric Corp jumped over 18% and Japan Steel Works was up more than 14%. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries advanced 13% and 12%, respectively. The broader Topix index rose 3% to hit an intraday record.

Given the government's economic policy of a high-pressure economy, Takaichi is likely to ask Bank of Japan to maintain its accommodative monetary policy, and would be open to a 25-basis-point rate hike by the central bank by January 2026, accoring to a Crdit Agricole CIB note cited by Reuters. "A Takaichi administration, recognising that the current economy is still weak, is expected to completely shift policy direction to a new approach (complete overhaul) that seeks to expand investment and demand through public-private partnerships," CNBC said, quoting from the same note.

The yield on the 40-year Japanese government bond rose 14 bps to 3.52%. Yields on long-term debt are facing upward pressure on expectations that Takaichi will push for more deficit spending, Reuters reported. 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.5 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was 0.1% lower in early trade. 

Following were the levels of key Asian indices at 0802 IST:

(Eshitva Prakash)

Equity Alert: S&P 500 hits record high amid choppy trade

MUMBAI--0738 IST--Most indices in the US closed higher after a session of volatile trade Friday as traders largely overlooked concerns surrounding the US government shutdown. The government shutdown in the US has resulted in the country's Labour Department delaying the release of the crucial September non-farms payrolls data, which is an important data set for the US Federal Reserve's policy decisions. The US services sector growth stalled in September and business activity contracted for the month, according to data from the Institute for Supply Management. The S&P 500 posted a record closing high while the Nasdaq Composite index declined. 

According to data from the Institute for Supply Management, the Services Purchasing Managers' Index in September fell to 50, lower than August's reading of 52 and the estimate of 51.7 according to a Reuters poll. The business activity index, which is similar to the Institute for Supply Management's factory output gauge, contracted for the first time since May 2020 at 49.9, lower than August's reading of 55.

"It seems like the market probability of a Fed rate cut has actually gone up since the shutdown began... maybe that's because there's a potential impact on the economy or some weaker jobs data this week or this morning's ISM data... the expectation is we're still in this environment where the Fed is going to cut rates," Mona Mahajan, head of investment strategy at Edward Jones was quoted by Reuters, as saying. Traders are factoring in a 95% likelihood of a 25 bps rate cut by the central bank in October, up from 88% a week ago. However, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said he was hesitant to commit to a series of rate cuts with inflation still running above the target, a report by Reuters said.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 0.3% and several technology players such as Palantir Technologies, Tesla, and Nvidia declined. Palantir fell nearly 8% and Tesla and Nvidia dropped around 1% each. Shares of USA Rare Earth rose more than 14% after the company's Chief Executive Officer Barbara Humpton told CNBC the company was in close communication with US President Donald Trump over a government investment.

Following are the closing levels of US indices Friday:

(Eshitva Prakash)

End

US$1 = INR 88.77

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

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