Asia-Pacific markets mostly climb after AI trade lifts Wall Street overnight

Asia-Pacific markets opened mostly higher Tuesday, after AI trade lifted major Wall Street indexes overnight.

Nvidia shares rose more than 1% after Reuters said the company was looking to start shipments of its H200 chips to China by mid-February. Micron Technology climbed around 4%, while Oracle advanced more than 3%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.1% to close at 8,795.7, marking a fourth straight day of gains.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended marginally above the flatline at 50,412.87, extending gains to a third day. The broad-based Topix gained 0.53% to 3,423.25, led by financials and healthcare stocks.

On Tuesday, Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama reportedly said the country had a “free hand” in dealing with the yen’s recent sharp depreciation, signaling a currency intervention was not off the table.

The yen weakened sharply on Friday, despite the Bank of Japan raising interest rates to a 30-year high, hitting a low of 157.77 against the dollar before strengthening on Monday and Tuesday. It was last trading at 156.14.

Katayama said that the Japanese currency’s fluctuations do not reflect economic fundamentals, describing them as “speculative.”

South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.28% to 4,117.32, also clocking a three-day winning streak, but the small-cap Kosdaq slipped 1.03% to 919.56.

Shares of shipbuilding firm Hanwha Ocean surged 10% after U.S. President Donald Trump said the company was going to work with the U.S. Navy to build its new frigates.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index bucked the trend and was down 0.1% in its last hour of trade, with basic materials stocks leading the slide, while mainland China’s CSI 300 extended its winning streak to three days, gaining 0.2% to close at 4,620.73.

Chinese newcomers lit up the Hong Kong market on their debut Tuesday, with QingSong Health Corporation and Nuobikan Artificial Intelligence Technology jumping 134% and 323%, respectively, after their strong albeit small IPOs. 

QingSong Health Corporation’s Hong Kong IPO was met with overwhelming demand, with the domestic tranche subscribed 1,421 times, according to its exchange filing, raising nearly 602 million Hong Kong dollars (about $77 million). Nuobikan, saw its Hong Kong public tranche subscribed 188.74 times, raising HK$303 million.

Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 gained 0.64%, posting its third positive day in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.47%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.52%.

—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Sarah Min contributed to this report.