Sawt Falasteen - Stock markets climb with tech in focus

Shares in Nvidia, the world's leading generative AI chipmaker, jumped around five percent in late morning trading with the company set to announce its results after the closing bell.

Hong Kong closed up more than three percent, with investors snapping up tech stocks following a poor start to the week sparked by fresh concerns over US President Donald Trump's tariff plans.

In Europe, Paris and Frankfurt led the way with gains of over one percent.

Wall Street pushed higher, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index rising 1.1 percent with traders looking keenly to Nvidia's results.

The company's guidance "could be pivotal, not just for the company, but in setting overall market direction, at least in the short term", said Trade Nation analyst David Morrison.

"This will be the first earnings update from the company since Chinese upstart DeepSeek managed to upset the US's generative AI industry by producing an assistant of equivalent quality but at a fraction of the cost," he said.

DeepSeek's unveiling of its chatbot threw US tech titans into a tailspin as it undermined their massive AI investments and their high stock valuations.

Nvidia's shares have taken a beating in recent sessions and overall US tech shares, which helped drive the market to record highs at the end of last year, have stumbled in 2025.

Hong Kong's stock market rally came as investors snapped up long-neglected tech names, after DeepSeek sparked renewed interest in the sector.

Beijing's moves to bring the firms in from the cold after years of government crackdowns on the industry also boosted sentiment.

E-commerce heavyweight Alibaba was again one of the major advancers, rallying 4.8 percent, with JD.com more than eight percent higher, Meituan up nearly 10 percent and Tencent up 3.4 percent.

Sentiment took a knock at the start of the week from news that Trump had signed a memo over the weekend calling for curbs on Chinese investments in industries including technology, critical infrastructure, healthcare and energy.

The move is aimed at promoting foreign investment in the United States, while protecting national security interests "particularly from threats posed by foreign adversaries" like China, the White House said.

Tokyo was a rare decliner among major stock markets Wednesday, hit by recent strengthening of the yen amid expectations that the Bank of Japan would continue hiking interest rates this year.

The yen has benefitted also from a pick-up in bets on cuts to US interest rates.

Expectations for Federal Reserve reductions were boosted by a Conference Board survey showing US consumer confidence in February saw its largest monthly decline since August 2021.

The reading came on the heels of other lacklustre US reports including on service sector activity, jobs and inflation.

- Key figures around 1630 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 43,751.02 points

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.7 percent at 5,999.12

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.1 percent at 19,243.51

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 8,731.46 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.2 at 8,143.92 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 1.7 percent at 22,794.11 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 38,142.37 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 3.3 percent at 23,787.93 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.0 percent at 3,380.21 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0509 from $1.0517 on Tuesday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2693 from $1.2668

Dollar/yen: UP at 149.30 from 149.00 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 82.79 pence from 83.00 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $72.41 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: FLAT at $68.91 per barrel

burs-rl/gv

W.AbuLaban--SF-PST