Asia markets climb as Kospi hits record high on IMF boost

October 16, 2025 (MLN): Asian markets traded mostly higher on Thursday, with South Korea’s Kospi index surging to a record high after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised the nation’s 2025 growth forecast to 0.9%, up from 0.8% in its latest October outlook report.

The IMF also slightly upgraded its projection for global economic growth, noting that the impact of recent U.S. tariffs was “at the modest end of the range.”

The Fund attributed the improved outlook to the resilience of the private sector, which rapidly adjusted supply chains and front-loaded imports, as well as continued trade cooperation among major economies.

South Korean equities received an additional boost after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that Washington was close to concluding a trade agreement with South Korea. “The devil’s in the details, but we are ironing out the details,” Bessent said in the interview.

Gains were led by automotive, electronics, and industrial stocks. Samsung Electronics climbed 2.32% to a new all-time high, Hyundai Motor surged nearly 8%, and Kia Corp added about 7%. Overall, the Kospi advanced 1.09%, while the small-cap Kosdaq index edged up 0.2%.

However, SK Inc. shares dropped over 5% after South Korea’s Supreme Court partially overturned a lower court’s ruling in Chairman Chey Tae-won’s high profile divorce case, which had previously ordered him to pay around $1bn to his estranged wife. In contrast, shares of its chip-making arm SK Hynix rose more than 6%.

Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.95% and the Topix index rose 0.8%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also hit a new record despite a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.5% in September, its highest level in nearly four years. The weaker labor data—employment increased by only 14,900, below expectations for a 20,000 rise has strengthened bets for further interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

In China, the CSI 300 rose 0.52%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.5% and the Hang Seng Tech Index declined 1.53%. India’s Nifty 50 climbed 0.34%, and the Sensex added 0.23%.

Meanwhile, U.S. equity futures were flat during Asian trading hours following a mixed overnight session on Wall Street. Investors digested strong bank earnings and ongoing concerns over Washington’s government shutdown, now entering its third week, along with persistent trade tensions with China.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 17.15 points, or 0.04%, to 46,253.31, after briefly rising more than 420 points earlier in the session. The S&P 500 gained 0.4% to 6,671.06, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.7% to 22,670.08, both trimming larger intraday gains.

The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” remained elevated at 20.6, after reaching 21.6 last Friday, its highest level since late May, showing investors’ caution amid escalating global trade frictions.

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