Asian stocks mixed as US inflation data tempers tech rebound

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Asian stocks diverged on Wednesday as renewed optimism over artificial intelligence (AI) stocks was offset by forecast-beating US inflation data and ...

HONG KONG: Asian stocks diverged on Wednesday as renewed optimism over artificial intelligence (AI) stocks was offset by forecast-beating US inflation data and the prospect of a large interest rate hike next month.

Tech stocks have bounced this week on bargain-hunting after last week’s rout, which was fueled by fears that Democrats would tighten regulation of AI. Sentiment was boosted by data center operator CoreWeave, which said sales would reach $13 billion to $13.3 billion this year, beating estimates and easing concerns about its ability to finance its heavy debts as borrowing costs rise.

Confidence was also lifted by a filing from Anthropic, the maker of AI agent Claude, showing it plans to raise up to $64 billion in its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), valuing it at up to $1.4 trillion. The company had been expected to raise up to $100 billion, which would have been the largest IPO on record. Its filing showed third-quarter revenue soared to $17 billion from $1.4 billion a year earlier. Bloomberg reported that ChatGPT-maker OpenAI earned $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time in July-September.

Chip giant Nvidia remained in focus after the revelation of an affair between chief executive Jensen Huang and a woman reportedly suspected of being a Chinese spy, with the company now the subject of an FBI investigation, according to AFP.

Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei, where most of Asia’s leading AI-linked firms are listed, continued to rise, as did Singapore and Jakarta. But Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Wellington and Manila fell, after all three main Wall Street indexes ended lower on Tuesday, snapping a two-day rally.

Traders are worried about a bigger-than-expected rate hike by the Federal Reserve at its December meeting. US consumer prices rose 0.4 percent month-on-month in October, slower than September’s 0.6 percent but above the 0.3 percent forecast, as energy price increases eased but food prices jumped.

Oil prices edged up after falling on Tuesday…

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