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Informist, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: Asian indices higher; KOSPI, Nikkei, TAIEX touch fresh highs

 

MUMBAI--0816 IST--Asian indices were mostly higher Wednesday, with several regional indices touching record highs during the session. The Japanese Nikkei 225, Taiwanese TAIEX, South Korean KOSPI, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index touched fresh highs, taking cues from the US indices that closed higher Tuesday as optimism over artificial intelligence offset concerns over the potential disruption to other sectors because of technology. 

 

The South Korean KOSPI index surpassed 6000 points for the first time. This was four months after the index broke through the 4000-point barrier on Oct. 27 and a month after passing the 5000-point barrier on Jan. 27. Shares of Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix were up nearly 2% and 3%, respectively. The country's markets were analysed to be influenced by the rise of the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which ended over 1% higher, and the rise in benchmark equity indices in the US, The Chosun Daily reported. Individual investors were net buyers for the session, buying shares worth 569.8 billion Korean won while foreign investors and institutional investors were net sellers, selling shares worth 392.9 billion Korean won and 184.7 billion Korean won, respectively.

 

"The global economy appears to be on slightly firmer footing as the effects of fiscal and monetary policy continue to support activity. Financial markets, however, have struggled to establish a clear direction amid several headwinds," Analysts from Fitch Solutions company BMI were quoted as saying by CNBC in reference to the AI-driven fluctuations and geopolitical risks. The analysts assigned a 50% possibility of a US-led military strike on Iran and said it was contributing to an elevated risk premium in oil prices and to the strength of the US dollar to some extent.

 

Following are the levels of key Asian indices at 0815 IST:

 

INDEX	LEVEL	CHANGE IN %
KOSPI	6086.23	1.95
FTSE Singapore Straits Times	5015.06	(-)0.11
S&P/ASX 200 Index	9129.70	1.19
Hang Seng Index	26708.35	0.44
IDX Composite	8325.03	0.53
TAIEX	35336.91	1.83
CSI 300	4736.67	0.62

 

(Akshat Saksena)

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Equity Alert: US indices end higher Tue; tech shrs lead gains on AI optimism

 

MUMBAI--0740 IST--Indices in the US ended higher Tuesday with technology stocks leading the gains as the revival of enthusiasm for artificial intelligence offset concerns over the technology possibly disrupting operations of companies across various sectors. 

 

"We're in for a period of time where the market will be going through some uncertainty and today we're seeing a little bit of a buy on the dip," Matthew Keator, managing partner in the Keator Group was quoted by Reuters. "We're going to see day-to-day movements but overall, there's so much unknown in terms of how AI ends up being additive or disruptive to some of these companies," he added. 

 

AI lab Anthropic announced new plug-ins across areas such as investment banking and human resources, weeks after its earlier plug-ins fuelled a sell-off in stocks of traditional software companies. The company said its new plug-ins were developed in partnership with companies such as Thomson Reuters, Salesforce and FactSet. Shares of Salesforce, Thomson Reuters, and Factset Research Systems rose 4-11% for the session. 

 

Shares of Docusign were up nearly 3%. This was after Anthropic said its Calude Cowork will now be connected to Docusign as well as existing tools of other organisations such as Google Drive and Gmail, CNBC reported. This offered some optimism for investors who now believe that AI might be able to complement software companies instead of replacing them. 

 

Monetary policymakers in the country also weighed the possible effects of AI on the labour market. US Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said AI could lead to a possible rise in unemployment rate, which was contrasted by US Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, who does not expect the technology to disrupt the labour market, Reuters reported. 

 

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court's decision, which struck down many of President Donald Trump's tariffs, and the subsequent threats to implement fresh round of levies on imports continued as a source of uncertainty. "There are still questions about the deals that were in place already," Robert Pavlik was quoted as saying by Reuters. "What happens to those? Are they still happening?" he asked.

 

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices and Meta Platforms were up after the two companies signed a multi-year agreement for Advanced Micro Devices to deploy up to 6 gigawatts of graphics processing units for AI data centres, which includes use of AI-optimised central processing units, or CPUs, CNBC reported.       

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Tuesday:  

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6890.07	0.77
NASDAQ Composite	22863.68	1.04
Dow Jones Industrial Average	49174.50	0.76

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

US$1 = INR 90.95

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

 

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

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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