HONG KONG (AP) — World shares were mixed Monday with markets in Japan and South Korea trading higher and setting new records, while oil prices edged lower on fresh optimism over progress in U.S.-Iran negotiations.
U.S. futures were trading lower.
In early European trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 edged down less than 0.1% to 10,360.01, after Keir Starmer announced he was stepping down as leader of the governing Labour Party and will leave office within weeks. Germany’s DAX was down 0.2% to 24,940.33, while France’s CAC 40 fell 0.5% to 8,378.85.
In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.6% and ended at another all-time record of 72,353.96, led by technology stocks that were fueled by excitement over the global artificial intelligence boom.
Japan’s SoftBank Group, the multinational investment holding company with a strong AI focus, rose 1.9%. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron was up 3.2%.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.7% to 9,114.55, also a record closing high, helped by AI-related shares. Memory chip maker SK Hynix surged 5.6%.
The Nikkei 225 and Kospi were up more than 40% and 120%, respectively, over the past six months. Both benchmark indexes have been setting fresh records in recent days on AI enthusiasm and positive developments from the Iran war.
“We’re seeing another strong market today,” Neil Newman, managing director and head of strategy at Astris Advisory Japan, said. He cautioned that the Japanese market is “probably getting a little stretched” from an investor’s point of view, “especially with what’s going (on) in the Middle East.”
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.7% to 23,768.52, while the Shanghai Composite index was 1.8% higher at 4,163.10.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.1% to 8,816.10.
