DOW JONES–At the start of the new week, no consistent trend could be identified on the stock exchanges in East Asia and Australia. The unresolved Middle East conflict weighed on the mood in many places. Oil prices rose again in response to the latest advance by Israeli forces in Lebanon. The price of a barrel of Brent oil rose by a good 3 percent to around $94 during the transition from Asian-dominated to European trading, but was still well below the highs that the oil price saw in the wake of the conflict.
Meanwhile, technology stocks continued to benefit from the AI euphoria. This was particularly evident on the South Korean stock market. The leading index Kospi jumped 3.7 percent to a record high following strong export data. In May, South Korean exports rose more sharply than they had in over 40 years. Demand for chips driven by artificial intelligence (AI) pushed the value of shipments to a record high. LG Electronics shares gained around 30 percent. Samsung Electronics rose in price by a good 10 percent. SK Hynix lagged behind with an increase of 1.3 percent. According to media reports, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will travel to South Korea later this week to meet representatives of the chip industry there. It was said that this would further fuel the AI euphoria.
On the Japanese stock market, the Nikkei climbed 0.9 percent to a new record high. The broader Topix, meanwhile, closed 0.4 percent in the red. The index was slowed by price losses in the auto sector, which was impacted by the Middle East conflict and its consequences, while technology stocks were also in demand here. Softbank Group improved by 14 percent, overtaking Toyota Motor (-4.5%) as the most valuable Japanese company. Softbank has pledged to invest at least 45 billion euros to build a network of AI data centers in France. In the chip sector, Kioxia rose by 10.1 percent and Fujitsu by 8.4 percent.
In Shanghai, the composite index fell 0.2 percent. The S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 51.8 in May from 52.2 points in April, due to the Middle East conflict and the resulting higher prices and supply chain problems. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced x.x percent in late trading. Among the individual stocks, Lenovo rose by 3.4 percent. The shares of the AI startup Minimax were unable to maintain initial gains and fell by 15.4 percent. The company is seeking an additional listing on the Star Market in Shanghai, a technology-focused exchange modeled on the Nasdaq.
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INDEX last +/- % % YTD trading close
S&P/ASX 200 (Sydney) 8,729.40 -0.0 +0.2 08:00
Topix 500 (Tokyo) 3,081.70 -0.4 +15.8 08:00
Kospi (Seoul) 8,788.38 +3.7 +108.5 08:30
Hang-Seng (Hong Kong) 25,398.26 +0.9 -0.9 10:00
Shanghai Composite 4,060.24 -0.2 +2.3 09:00
Straits-Times (Singapore) Public Holiday 11:00
IDX Comp. (Indonesia) 6,127.38 -0.1 -29.1 10:00
KLCI (Malaysia) 1,683.07 -0.1 +0.2 10:00
FOREX last +/- % 00:00 Fri, 09:18 % YTD
EUR/USD 1.1661 +0.0 1.1659 1.1648 -0.7
EUR/JPY 185.93 +0.1 185.68 185.48 +1.1
EUR/GBP 0.8656 -0.1 0.8661 0.8672 -0.7
USD/JPY 159.42 +0.1 159.26 159.22 +1.8
USD/KRW 1,505.13 -0.1 1,507.09 1,507.72 +4.5
USD/CNY 6.7659 0.0 6.7662 6.7696 -3.3
USD/CNH 6.7652 +0.0 6.7630 6.7684 -3.0
USD/HKD 7.8368 +0.0 7.8362 7.8341 +0.7
AUD/USD 0.7180 -0.0 0.7183 0.7160 +7.6
NZD/USD 0.5970 -0.3 0.5988 0.5959 +3.7
BTC/USD 73,006.28 -0.9 73,653.09 73,707.05 -16.8
CRUDE OIL last +/- % +/- abs. End of the previous day
WTI/Nymex 90.24 +3.3 2.88 87.36
Brent/ICE 93.92 +3.1 2.80 91.12
Metals last +/- % +/- abs. End of the previous day
Gold 4,502.16 -0.7 -33.66 4,535.82
Silver 75.51 +0.3 0.26 75.26
Platinum 1,936.85 +1.0 19.81 1,917.04
(Information provided without guarantee)
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 01, 2026 03:10 ET (07:10 GMT)