World shares were mixed on Monday after a rebound in AI-related stocks like Nvidia spurred a late-in-the-week rally on Wall Street.
Germany’s DAX edged 0.1% higher to 24,315.90, while the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.2% to 8,135.23. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 0.3% to 9,864.71.
The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.4% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.8% to 50,402.39, helped by hefty gains for computer chip makers and other companies benefiting from the boom for artificial intelligence.
Semiconductor maker Tokyo Electron jumped 6.3% while chip testing equipment maker Advantest gained 4.5%.
Financial companies and exporters also saw gains after the Bank of Japan raised its key policy rate on Friday to its highest level in 30 years. Instead of causing the Japanese yen to strengthen as might be expected, it has fallen.
Early Monday, the dollar bought 157.45 yen, down from 157.60 late Friday. Heavy selling of the yen for dollars caused a top Finance Ministry official in charge of foreign exchange issues, Atsushi Mimura, to warn that regulators would act to curb any excessive fluctuations in the currency.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng picked up 0.4% to 25,901.77. The Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.7% to 3,917.36.
China’s central bank left its 1-year and 5-year loan prime rates unchanged, as expected.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi added 2.1% to 4,105.93 and Taiwan’s Taiex was 1.6% higher, helped by a 2.5% gain for chip maker TSMC.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.9% to 8,699.90.
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