DOW JONES–Positive signs dominate on the stock exchanges in East Asia and Australia on Thursday. The region’s markets are led by technology stocks, which in turn are tracking the recovery of their US counterparts. The stock exchanges in Seoul and Sydney are rising to record highs. Meanwhile, trade in Hong Kong and mainland China is still at a standstill due to the Chinese New Year holidays.
On the South Korean stock market, the Kospi rose by 2.9 percent after the holiday break. Stocks in the chip industry are in demand. The price of the index heavyweight Samsung Electronics climbed by around 4 percent and has now reached a record high. SK Hynix gain 1.2 percent. Trading on the technology exchange Kosdaq was temporarily suspended after it rose by over 6 percent.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei rose by 0.8 percent to 57,594 points. Here too, investors are buying chip stocks. Advantest fell 3.1 percent bucking the positive trend after the company announced it was the victim of a hacker attack.
The Sydney Stock Exchange ended trading with a gain of 0.9 percent. Mixed labor market data fueled interest rate cut speculation, traders said. Among the individual stocks, Rio Tinto gained 2 percent after presenting business figures. Brambles and Telstra have each increased their dividends. Brambles improved by 3.7 percent and Telstra by 3.6 percent.
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INDEX last +/- % % YTD end
S&P/ASX 200 (Sydney) 9,086.20 +0.9% +2.6% 06:00
Nikkei-225 (Tokyo) 57,594.00 +0.8% +12.4% 07:00
Kospi (Seoul) 5,667.73 +2.9% +34.5% 07:30
Shanghai Comp. Holiday 08:00
Hang-Seng (Hongk.) Holiday 09:00
FOREX last +/- % 00:00 Wed, 8:10 am % YTD
EUR/USD 1.1792 0.0 1.1786 1.1842 +0.9%
EUR/JPY 182.96 0.3 182.41 181.79 -1.4%
EUR/GBP 0.8743 0.1 0.8731 0.8733 +0.2%
GBP/USD 1.3486 -0.1 1.3499 1.3560 +0.7%
USD/JPY 155.15 0.3 154.76 153.51 -2.3%
USD/KRW 1,450.28 0.6 1,441.15 1,443.77 +0.0%
USD/CNY 6.9352 0.1 6.9276 6.9198 -1.4%
USD/CNH 6.9017 0.1 6.8916 6.8834 -1.3%
USD/HKD 7.8149 0.0 7.8142 7.8156 +0.4%
AUD/USD 0.7051 0.1 0.7045 0.7069 +6.2%
NZD/USD 0.5969 0.1 0.5965 0.5996 +5.0%
BTC/USD 66,757.50 0.6 66,384.35 67,791.20 -23.7%
CRUDE OIL last VT close +/- % +/- USD % YTD
WTI/Nymex 65.28 65.05 +0.4% +0.23 +8.6%
Brent/ICE 70.51 70.35 +0.2% +0.16 +10.6%
METALS last day previous +/- % +/- USD % YTD
Gold 4,993.29 4,976.98 +0.3% +16.32 +12.9%
Silver 77.97 77.271 +0.9% +0.70 +2.9%
Platinum 1,759.12 1,766.29 -0.4% -7.17 -3.1%
Copper 5.78 5.80 -0.5% -0.03 +0.3%
YTD based on the closing price of the previous day
(Information provided without guarantee)
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 19, 2026 00:45 ET (05:45 GMT)