Samsung and SK Hynix drive Asian gains as global markets pause

Investors watched closely as major central banks prepared to announce rate decisions and giant technology firms scheduled to release quarterly earnings. The wait created a pause in trading that affected markets across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Asian benchmarks showed the strongest movement on Tuesday. South Korea's Kospi index closed 3.1% higher at 5,638.34. It briefly jumped more than 4% during the session. The rally was fueled by buying in artificial intelligence stocks, specifically computer chipmakers. SK Hynix shares rose 5.2% and Samsung Electronics gained 4.2%.

SK Hynix will release its third-quarter earnings on Wednesday. Samsung Electronics is scheduled to report its results the following day. Samsung has estimated that its operating profit for the last quarter will be nearly eight times higher than the same period last year. Strong global demand for semiconductors is driving this growth. The South Korean economy also expanded at a 3.4% annual rate from July to September, a figure that beat expectations according to data released on Tuesday.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index added 1.7% to finish at 63,268.37. Testing equipment maker Advantest saw its stock jump 9.6%. SoftBank Group, which has invested in OpenAI, climbed 5%. In contrast, other Asian markets showed mixed results. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 0.7% to 23,041.32, giving up early gains. The Shanghai Composite dropped 1.3% to 3,648.30. Traders monitored these moves while waiting for announcements from a closed-door meeting of China's ruling Communist Party leaders in Beijing.

European markets traded lower in early sessions. Germany's DAX fell 0.1% to 25,373.71. The CAC 40 in Paris dropped 0.3% to 7,824.83. Britain's FTSE 100 declined 1% to 10,664.58. Futures for the S&P 500 lost 0.1%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures remained largely unchanged.

U.S. stocks had a strong session on Monday. The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, recovering most of its losses from the previous week. It now sits within 1.8% of the all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow added 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8%. Nvidia led the gain on Monday, rising 2.4%. This helped the chip company recover from three straight losing weeks, its longest streak since June.

Uncertainty remains in the artificial intelligence sector. Stocks in this industry have been volatile due to concerns about high borrowing costs for building data centers and buying chips. Anthropic, a key player in the AI boom, provided details on Monday about its losses as it prepares for an initial public offering. SpaceX, which runs the xAI business, also saw stock swings after announcing a roughly $40 billion deal with an entity managed by Apollo Global Management to lease AI computing power.

Alphabet and Microsoft will report their latest quarterly results on Wednesday. Amazon follows on Thursday. These reports may offer more details on AI spending and whether it is generating the promised productivity. The Federal Reserve hiked the fed funds rate last month for the first time in three years to combat inflation. Brent crude oil rose 0.7% to $111.54 a barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude gained 0.7% to $102.47 per barrel. The dollar rose to 157.75 Japanese yen, and the euro slipped to $1.1154.