Asian markets rebound on tech gains, Wall Street rally

October 16, 2026 (MLN): Asian markets rebounded on Friday, recovering from the previous session’s sharp losses as technology stocks advanced and gains on Wall Street lifted investor sentiment.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed more than 1%, while the broader Topix index rose 1.14%. In South Korea, the Kospi gained 1.22% at the open, while the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 1.28%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.83% higher, according to CNBC.

Technology shares led the recovery, with SoftBank Group rising 1.92% in Japan, Tokyo Electron gaining nearly 2%, Advantest adding 1.89% and Kioxia surging 6%. In Hong Kong, Alibaba advanced 3.1% and Tencent climbed 2.2%. South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics gained 2.85% and 2.38%, respectively.

The rebound followed a broad sell-off on Thursday, when concerns over artificial intelligence (AI) financing, intensifying competition and the potential oversupply of memory chips weighed on technology stocks.

Investor sentiment also received support from Wall Street, where all three major indexes ended Thursday’s session higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average led the gains, jumping more than 500 points, or around 1.1%, while the S&P 500 rose approximately 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite edged up around 0.1%. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapped three-session losing streaks.

Despite Thursday’s recovery, US technology stocks remained under pressure for the week. Micron Technology was on track for a weekly decline of more than 9%, while Seagate Technology and Western Digital were also heading towards weekly losses.

Nvidia and Broadcom shares were down for the week as investors reassessed the sustainability of AI-related gains.

Concerns have also mounted over rising borrowing by technology companies to finance AI infrastructure. Neocloud firm CoreWeave was heading for a weekly decline of around 15%, despite recovering during Thursday’s session.

Meanwhile, Anthropic disclosed third-quarter revenue of $16.8bn, drawing further attention to whether growth across the AI industry can justify the substantial investments flowing into the sector.

Beyond technology, investors continued to assess inflation risks amid elevated energy prices following the US-Iran war. US wholesale inflation recorded its largest increase since 2022, while consumer inflation remained above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

Market participants are also awaiting further corporate earnings reports due on Friday, including results from Travelers and Citizens Financial.

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