Asian equity markets rallied as chipmaker stocks surged, with the gains broad enough to lift regional indices despite lingering caution over oil prices and the Federal Reserve's next move. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 pushed up against its 200-day moving average, a level traders watch as a sign of longer-term trend strength, while South Korea's SK Hynix tested resistance near KRW 1,750,000.
The rally came alongside a U.S. jobs report that shifted odds around a September Federal Reserve rate move, leaving Wall Street futures mixed even as Asian chip names outperformed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng stayed range-bound between 24,950 and 26,200, a sign that gains were concentrated in chip-linked names rather than broad-based.
What is unresolved is whether chipmaker strength can hold if the Fed's rate path firms up in a direction that pressures risk assets broadly, or if oil price moves start to weigh more heavily on sentiment.