Asian stocks: Markets trade in green on US interest rate cut hopes; Nikkei adds over 700 points, Kospi gains 2.7%

Asian stocks mostly rose on Friday, as investors ended the week on a positive note, with hopes of US interest rate cuts outweighing worries over a government shutdown.Japan’s Nikkei jumped 721 points or 1.6% reaching 45,675. Kospi also traded 2.7% higher, gaining 93 points to 3,549.Shanghai and Shenzhen also added 0.5% and 0.3% respectively.HSI, on the other hand, was down 0.87% or 237 points to reach 27,049 at 10:00 AM IST.This year’s global market rally has been driven largely by companies investing billions in artificial intelligence, as traders rush to get a piece of the action.The surge has pushed valuations of some of the world’s biggest firms to eye-watering levels, with US chipmaker Nvidia topping $4 trillion, while several markets hit record highs.Momentum picked up this week after South Korea’s Samsung and SK hynix said they had reached a preliminary deal with OpenAI to supply chips and equipment for its Stargate project. On Friday, Japanese tech giant Hitachi announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI to work on AI, energy, and other areas.Hitachi shares jumped more than 9%, with other Japanese tech firms following suit: Renesas rose by a similar amount, Sony gained 2.8%, Advantest climbed more than 3%, and SoftBank added over3%.The rally pushed Tokyo’s Nikkei sharply higher, while gains were also seen in Sydney, Wellington, Taipei, Jakarta, and Manila. Hong Kong fell slightly after a strong four-percent rally over the past three sessions, and Singapore dipped a little. Shanghai remained closed for a holiday.The surge, which came after all three main Wall Street indexes hit record highs on Thursday, has also been supported by data showing a slowdown in the US labour market. This has prompted the Federal Reserve to cut borrowing costs and signal that more reductions may be on the way.