Stock markets strike record highs as AI concerns ease
A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, on Apr 2, 2025. (Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
NEW YORK: Stock markets in Asia and Europe reached record highs on Wednesday (Feb 25) while Wall Street indices continued to advance on easing worries about the AI sector and ahead of chip behemoth Nvidia releasing its earnings.
Seoul, Tokyo, London, and Paris exchanges each beat their previous intraday highs, also in reaction to well-received company updates.
In New York, the tech-centred Nasdaq again led the way, rising 1.3 per cent.
Global equities gained "as the apocalyptic AI narrative takes a small step back", noted Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Investors have adopted a more sanguine view following a presentation by AI company Anthropic that emphasised the compatibility of its technology with existing programs.
Hopes are also elevated ahead of an earnings report from Nvidia later on Wednesday.
"People are speculating that likely they'll (Nvidia) have good things to say," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare, who also attributed the rise to investor bargain hunting after earlier declines.
A surge in shares in big tech firms deploying AI helped drive equity markets to record highs last year. Investors have sometimes been seized in recent months by concern that share prices have become over-valued and that the technology might not become profitable, however.
Other declines have been driven by concerns that the technology will disrupt other businesses.
Such worries were sparked by a weekend report by Citrini Research that said certain sectors, from financial to food delivery firms, could be at risk from new AI tools.
ASIA HIGH
Earlier, Seoul's Kospi topped 6,000 points for the first time, led once again by chip titans Samsung and SK hynix. The index has surged more than 40 per cent this year, having rallied 76 per cent in 2025.
Tokyo piled on more than two percent to hit a new peak, with tech firms Advantest and Tokyo Electron among the best performers.
In Europe, shares in HSBC jumped 6.7 per cent after the global bank posted better-than-expected 2025 earnings.
Elsewhere, the yen retreated further against the dollar on media reports that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had told Bank of Japan boss Kazuo Ueda of her concern about hiking interest rates further.
Oil prices edged higher ahead of a third round of talks between Iran and Washington in Geneva on Iran's nuclear programme.
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump accused Tehran of "sinister nuclear ambitions" after he ordered a massive military deployment around the Gulf.
