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Informist, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: Most equity indices in Asia rise; KOSPI, Nikkei hit fresh highs

 

MUMBAI--0811 IST--Equity indices in Asia were mostly higher in early trade, with multiple indices reaching their record highs. The Nikkei 225 was trading lower after reaching fresh highs and the KOSPI continued to rise and reached its all-time high as well. The Hang Seng was lower after ending higher for three consecutive sessions.

 

Japanese indices Nikkei and the Topix First Section hit record highs on optimism over the resounding snap-election victory of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The win gives Takaichi a strong multi-year mandate to execute policy, which is seen as supportive for the country's markets and corporate sector, CNBC reported Global investment firm GMO as saying. Despite equities rising, the country's bond market has come under pressure and risk of intervention could rise if the yen reaches 160 against the dollar, GMO was reported as saying. However, the Nikkei lost it gains and was trading slightly lower, while the Topix First Section managed to stay above its previous day's close. 

 

The KOSPI surpassed 5500 points during the session, with heavyweight Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix rising over 6% and over 3%, respectively. This comes after US-based Micron dismissed concerns about the supply of high-bandwidth memory chips, which is analysed to be influencing stocks of domestic semiconductor companies, The Chosun Daily reported.  

 

The Hang Seng snapped its three-day winning streak ahead of the Lunar New Year due to a fall in technology stocks. This comes after Bejing's market regulator summoned major online platforms to discuss irregularities in the sale of online train tickets ahead of the holidays. These platforms include Trip.com, Meituan, JD.com, Didi, Tencent and other mapping services providers. The market regulator has summoned the companies after complaints from the public over add-on charges and misleading booking charges, the South China Morning Post reported, citing state broadcaster CCTV.

 

Following are the levels of key Asian indices at 0811 IST:

 

INDEX	LEVEL	CHANGE IN %
CSI 300 Index	4716.04	0.05
Hang Seng Index	27077.69	(-)0.69
KOSPI	5494.65	2.62
Nikkei 225 Day	57580.76	(-)0.12
TOPIX FIRST SECTION	3873.95	0.48
FTSE Singapore Straits Times	5008.37	0.48
S&P/ASX 200 Index	9075.70	0.68

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

 

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Equity Alert: US equity indices end lower; Dow Jones snaps 3-day win streak

 

MUMBAI--0734 IST--Equity indices in the US ended flat to lower on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 staying almost unchanged and the Dow Jones Industrial Average index snapping its three-session winning streak. This came despite better-than-expected non-farm payrolls data for January, which was delayed due to a partial government shutdown, eased tensions over the economy but did indicate that the US Federal Reserve might hold back on rate cuts.

 

The non-farm payrolls data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a job growth of 130,000 in January, CNBC reported. This was significantly higher than the addition of 55,000 jobs estimated by economists polled by Dow Jones and was also higher than 48,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate for the country was at 4.3%, slightly lower than the 4.4% estimated by Dow Jones. However, the growth was restricted within a few sectors, primarily in the healthcare related fields, which saw an addition of 124,000 positions alone, double the growth in 2025. This also comes at a time when every month in 2025 has seen downward revisions. "This is generally a good sign, as you'd expect, but we are certainly not out of the woods yet with respect to the labor market. ‘Moving in the right direction' would be a better description. The unemployment rate is gradually improving, but there are still plenty of signs that the labor market remains exceedingly weak," Rick Wedell, chief investment officer at RFG Advisory was reported as saying.

 

The indices started the session well, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq reaching their highest level in more than a week, after the release of the US jobs data. However, indices lost their gains as traders cut back on bets for rate cuts, Reuters reported. Traders are still expecting one 25-basis-point rate cut. However, the probability of rates holding steady for the month rose to 42.4% from 24.8% on Dec. 10, the CME Fedwatch tool showed.

 

Software stocks, which were under pressure last week amid concerns over artificial intelligence disrupting their operations, were lower for the session again, CNBC reported. Shares of Salesforce were down over 4% and those of ServiceNow were down 5.5%. Stocks that would gain from a faster economy, such as shares of companies involved in making AI data centres, were higher. Shares of digital infrastructure company Vertiv Holdings Co. surged 24.5% after its fourth-quarter earnings beat estimates, with the company providing a strong outlook for 2026 as well. Shares of Caterpillar were up over 4?ter Argus Research raised its target price on the stock to $820 from $625, Reuters reported.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Wednesday:  

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6941.47	0.00
NASDAQ Composite	23066.47	(-)0.16
Dow Jones Industrial Average	50121.40	(-)0.13

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

US$1 = INR 90.70

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

 

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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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