Source: Yahoo Finance

Japanese Stock Market

The main Japanese index, Nikkei 225, jumped 3.36% this week, marking its best weekly gain since March 22nd. The Nikkei hit an all-time high on Thursday, surpassing 42,000 points for the first time. The broader Japanese index, Topix, advanced 2.65% and reached a record closing high of 2,929.17 points.

According to exchange data, overseas investors made significant investments in Japanese stocks, purchasing 916.05 billion yen ($5.67 billion) worth of shares last week. This represents their biggest weekly net purchase since January 12th. This surge occurred despite the rally in technological stocks and the still cheap yen that we wrote about 2 weeks ago.

Source: Yahoo Finance

Taiwanese Stock Market

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) reached a new record high on Thursday after posting strong second-quarter revenue, thanks to increasing demand for artificial intelligence. This solidified its position as Asia's most valuable company. The main Taiwan stock index also reached a new all-time high, closing at 24,390.03 Taiwanese dollars (equivalent of $753).

TSMC's ADRs, listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 1997, briefly boosted the firm's market value to $1 trillion. It later stabilized, trading above 190 dollars per share.

South Korean Stock Market

South Korea is consistently attracting attention from foreign investors, with a monthly average inflow of almost 3 billion dollars in 2024. Companies like Micron Technology, Samsung, and Hynix, the “Nvidia of Asia” and the top supplier of advanced HBM memory chips to Nvidia, are leading this charge.

Samsung and Hynix together account for about 30% of the main Korean index, KOSPI, by market capitalization. Hynix shares are up more than 70% this year, Samsung is up 12%, and the overall KOSPI has risen nearly 9%, demonstrating South Korea's rally in AI technologies.