Australia, Victoria, Melbourne, buildings on bank of Yarra river
Peter Adams | Stone | Getty Images
South Korea’s Kospi index hit a record high Thursday, after the International Monetary Fund raised the country’s 2025 growth forecast to 0.9% from 0.8% in its October outlook report.
The IMF also raised its growth projection for the global economy, saying the impact of U.S. tariffs was “at the modest end of the range.”
It cited several reasons for upgrading the forecast, including the agility of the private sector, which front-loaded imports in the first half of the year and quickly reorganized supply chains to redirect trade flows; trade deals between the U.S. and other countries; and the overall restraint from much of the world, which largely kept the global trading system open.
South Korean stocks also received a boost after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC in an exclusive interview Wednesday stateside that Washington was “about to finish up” trade negotiations with the Asian country.
“The devil’s in the details, but we are ironing out the details,” he added.
The autos, electronics and industrial equipment firms led gains on the Kospi index. Shares of Samsung Electronics rose 2.32% to an all-time high, while Hyundai Motor added around 8%. Kia also gained around 7%.
South Korea’s Kospi index advanced 1.09%, while the small-cap Kosdaq traded 0.2% higher.
Shares of SK Inc., one of South Korea’s biggest technology conglomerates, fell over 5% after the Supreme Court on Thursday partially overturned a previous ruling on Chairman Chey Tae-won’s divorce settlement, local media reported.
Last year, a lower court ordered Chey to pay about $1 billion to his estranged wife in a high-profile divorce lawsuit.
Meanwhile, shares of SK Inc.’s subsidiary and chip maker SK Hynix jumped over 6%.
Australian shares also hit new high
Investors have been on edge in recent days as global trade tensions have escalated. The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), known to many as Wall Street’s fear gauge, has trended higher over the past week, rising last Friday to more than 21.6, or its most elevated level since late May. The index finished at 20.6 on Wednesday stateside.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 rose to a new record after the country’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped to a near four-year high in September at 4.5%. That compares with the 4.3% estimated by Reuters-polled economists and the 4.2% rate in August.
Meanwhile, employment rose by 14,900 in September, missing expectations for a 20,000 rise. The weak jobs reading paves the way for further interest rate cuts.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index jumped 0.95%, while the Topix index added 0.8%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.5%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index lost 1.53%. Mainland’s CSI 300 added 0.52%.
U.S. equity futures were little changed in early Asian hours after major banks reported earnings beat, as Washington’s government shutdown entered its third week and escalating trade tensions with China persisted.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day little changed, down just 17.15 points, or 0.04% at 46,253.31. At one point in the day, the 30-stock index rose as much as 422.88 points.
The S&P 500 finished 0.4% higher at 6,671.06, after gaining as much as 1.2% intraday. The Nasdaq Composite ended up 0.7% at 22,670.08. It briefly rallied as much as 1.4%.
— CNBC’s Liz Napolitano and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.