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Informist, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Equity Alert: Mkts in Asia mixed; KOSPI hits fresh high, regains 2300 points

MUMBAI--0824 IST--Indices in Asia were mixed for the session with the KOSPI hitting a fresh high yet again amid a tumultous month for the South Korean index. The index regained the 5,300-point level during the session. Data showed services activity in Japan expanded at its fastest in almost a year, led by growth in the overall private sector. The Nikkei fell after hitting a record high in the previous session. 

The S&P Global final Japan Services Purchasing Managers' Index climbed to 53.7 in January, marking its 10th consecutive month of growth. This was slightly higher than a flash reading which forecast a reading of 53.4, Reuters reported. Readings below 50 signify contraction in activity, while readings above 50 signify growth. Marketing campaigns along with new client wins helped new work in January to report the highest rise in four months for the services sector. Employment in the services sector maintained its growth trajectory albeit at a slower pace than in December. Cost pressures eased as input prices rose at their slowest pace in almost two years. However, selling price inflation jumped to its seven-month-high, with firms passing higher costs on to customers. "Business confidence for the next 12 months remained upbeat, supported by anticipation of company expansion, higher customer turnout and economic recovery," Reuters said. 

The South Korean index recovered after the 'Warsh Shock', the Chosun Daily reported. The index opened lower but extended its gains from the previous session and regained the 5300 level after three sessions. The KOSPI had plummeted over 5% in a single session after the announcement of Kevin Warsh's nomination to replace US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, but was able to recover during the previous session. However, shares of SK Hynix were over 1% lower owing to weakness in technology stocks on Wall Street. Shares of Samsung were also trading slightly lower.

In Japan, shares of Nintendo fell nearly 11% despite the company being on track to deliver its target for its full-year sales forecast of 19 million units for the year ended Mar. 31 for its Switch 2 console, CNBC reported. Nintendo has so far sold 17.37 million units of the console, with 7 million sales recorded in the December quarter itself. The fall in the company's shares came amid investor concerns about whether the company would be impacted by an unprecedented surge in memory prices, which is a key component in consoles.

Following are the levels of key Asian indices at 0822 IST:

(Akshat Saksena)

Equity Alert: US indices end lower Tue; Walmart emerges as $1-trillion co 

MUMBAI--0744 IST--Equity indices in the US ended lower on Tuesday, with the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite ending over 1% lower. Shares of Palantir surged 7% during the session after the company's results beat expectations.

Walmart emerged as the first brick-and-mortar retailer to hit a valuation of $1 trillion, Reuters reported. This was after the stock rose due to growth in the digital business and acquisition of new customers, CNBC reported. Shares of the company ended nearly 3% higher on the tech-heavy index Tuesday.

Artificial intelligence companies NVIDIA and Microsoft ended nearly 3% lower, along with shares of Alphabet, which declined more than 1% ahead of its results on Wednesday. Amazon declined nearly 2% as well as markets wait for the company to report its results on Thursday. Investors are turning their attention towards software, data analytics, and professional services companies which are expected to face disruptions due to AI. This comes as AI developer Anthropic launched plug-in for its 'Claude Cowork' on Friday which automates tasks across legal sales, marketing, and data analytics, Reuters reported.

Shares of Thompson Reuters fell nearly 16%. "I think Anthropic came out with some plug-ins to tackle the legal space," Mike Archibald, a portfolio manager at AGF Investments in Toronto was reported as saying by Reuters. "Obviously, that's where Thomson Reuters generates a good chunk of their revenues. Sometimes the market just shoots first and asks questions later," he added. Shares of Salesforce, Datadog and Adobe fell around 7% each and those of Intuit fell around 11%. 

Healthcare stocks came under pressure as Novo Nordisk cautioned that it expected a significant fall in its annual sales. The company said its profits and sales could drop as much as 13% in 2026, with the heavy price pressure from US President Donald Trump fuelling competition in the weight loss market. "In 2026, Novo Nordisk will face pricing headwinds in an increasingly competitive market," CEO Mike Doustdar was reported by Reuters as saying in a statement. "However, we are very encouraged by the promising early uptake from the US launch of Wegovy pill, and we remain confident in our ability to drive volume growth over the coming years," he added. Shares of the company fell over 1%.  

Following are the closing levels of US indices Tuesday:  

(Akshat Saksena)

US$1 = INR 90.27

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

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

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