HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares rose Tuesday after another decline for Wall Street heavyweight Nvidia kept U.S. indexes mixed Monday even as the majority of stocks recovered.
US futures were higher, while oil prices were little changed.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1% to 39,190.97 after Bank of Japan data on Tuesday showed the producer price index for services was 2.5% higher in May than the same period last year, a slowdown from the increase from 2.7% in April.
The Japanese yen remains a focus, with the US dollar-Japanese yen exchange rate still trading at its weakest level in around 34 years. The yen rose to 159.41 against the dollar in Tuesday trading. The dollar closed at 159.59 yen on Monday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 0.5% higher at 18,109.80 and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.3% to 2,953.95.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.2% to 7,829.70. In South Korea, the Kospi rose 0.4% to 2,774.54.
Elsewhere, Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.3%, while Bangkok’s SET rose 0.4%.
On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 5,447.87. The decline for Nvidia and other winners of Wall Street’s artificial intelligence boom sent the Nasdaq composite down 1.1% to 17,496.82, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to 39,411.21 .
Stocks of oil and gas companies were among the market’s strongest, as seven of 10 stocks in the S&P 500 rose. Exxon Mobil climbed 3%, and oilfield services provider SLB gained 4%, as oil prices hovered around their highest levels since April.
Financial companies were also strong. JPMorgan Chase added 1.3%, and Wells Fargo climbed 1.6%, ahead of results later this week for tests by the Federal Reserve on how big banks would fare in a recession.
But declines for a handful of high-profile stocks offset all these gains, and the spotlight shone brightest on Nvidia’s 6.7% decline. It was the third straight decline for the chip company, which had soared 1,000% higher since fall 2022.
Virtually insatiable demand for Nvidia chips to power artificial intelligence applications has been a major reason for the U.S. stock market’s record highs lately, even as the economy’s growth slows under the weight of high interest rates. But the AI boom has been so frenzied that it has raised concerns about a possible stock market bubble and over-inflated expectations among investors.
Nvidia’s share price has been slumping since briefly overtaking Microsoft as Wall Street’s most valuable last week, falling nearly 13% in just three days. Because Nvidia has become so enormous, the movements of its shares weigh extra heavily on the S&P 500 and other indexes. It was by far the heaviest weighting on the S&P 500 on Monday.
Other AI beneficiaries also gave up some of their fantastic winnings. Super Micro Computer fell 8.6%, keeping year-to-date gains below 200%, at 190.9%.
Such rotation between stocks could be a healthy sign for the market, as long as it can stay close to its records. Market watchers are concerned that Nvidia and a handful of other companies alone are responsible for much of the S&P 500’s returns lately. They would prefer a market where many stocks participate in the gains.
On the bond market, government bond yields fell slightly. The yield on the 10-year government bond fell to 4.23% from 4.26% at the end of Friday.
The price has largely fallen since its peak of 4.70% in late April, easing pressure on the stock market. Yields have fallen on hopes that inflation will slow enough to convince the Federal Reserve to cut its key interest rate later this year.
The Fed has kept the federal funds rate at its highest level in more than two decades, hoping to put just enough pressure on the economy to get inflation under control.
In other trades, U.S. crude rose 6 cents to $81.69 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday.
Brent crude rose 2 cents to $85.17 a barrel.
The euro rose from $1.0732 to $1.0736.
