Asian stocks surged Monday as investors rotated back into beaten-down shares, though concerns over an investigation into Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang tempered gains.
The MSCI Asia Pacific index climbed 2.3%. Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 3.5%, South Korea's KOSPI rose 1.6%, and Taiwan's Taiex jumped 6.4%, marking its biggest advance since July. The TOPIX gained 3.4%.
Nvidia's board announced an independent investigation into reports that Huang was targeted in a foreign intelligence operation. Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife. The board said it had no reason to believe Nvidia secrets or U.S. national security had been compromised. Nvidia futures initially fell as much as 1%.
Taiwan's market regulator and finance ministry announced measures to restore investor confidence after the Taiex entered bear territory last week and recorded a seven-session losing streak, its longest since 2022. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and MediaTek each climbed at least 6%. The Financial Supervisory Commission cut the permitted volume of intraday short-selling orders using borrowed securities to 3% of a stock's average daily trading volume from 30% and raised the minimum margin requirement for short-selling to 130% from 90%. Authorities said the NT$500 billion national stock stabilisation fund remained available for deployment.
U.S. semiconductor stocks rose 4.2% late last week. The S&P 500 recorded its steepest weekly decline since April 2025, while the Nasdaq 100 lost $2.3 trillion in market value on Thursday alone. Nasdaq 100 futures were last up 0.7% and S&P 500 futures gained 0.6%.
Brent crude fell 0.9% to $97.44 a barrel after U.S. President Donald Trump said further strikes on Iran were unlikely if negotiations over its nuclear programme made progress.
ANZ Group Holdings shares fell 4.5% to A$38.62 despite reporting full-year cash profit of A$7.59 billion, narrowly exceeding analyst expectations.
Markets pricing in nearly an 80% probability of a Federal Reserve rate increase by year-end. Investors await U.S. inflation data Tuesday for clues on the interest-rate outlook.