for some trade-heavy hubs. Regional stocks rose too, with chip-heavy Taiwan and South Korea touching record intraday levels as investors kept piling into the AI supply chain.
Why should I care?
For markets: Dollar relief helps but the next catalyst is tech earnings.
A weaker dollar can support emerging-market currencies and stocks by easing pressure on dollar debt and making local returns look better to global investors. But Asia’s equity rally is also narrow, leaning hard on semiconductor names tied to AI. That leaves the region sensitive to big US signals like Nvidia’s results, which can quickly reset expectations for chip demand and spill into Taiwan and South Korea.
The bigger picture: Trade and rates are now a two-track driver for capital flows.
Tariff headlines move the dollar, but local central banks shape whether money sticks around. If policymakers hold rates while growth cools, currencies may struggle to extend gains even when the greenback fades. With global trade rules still in flux, Asia’s next leg likely depends as much on rate paths as on semiconductor exports.
