Asian stocks were on course for their biggest two-day advance in more than three months as a resurgent tech rally and falling oil prices lifted sentiment.
MSCI Inc.’s gauge of regional equities climbed 1.8%. That’s after US benchmarks capped their best session in about seven months on Monday, as dip buyers stepped in following last week’s technology-led selloff. South Korea’s Kospi Index jumped 4% to be the top performer in Asia on Tuesday, followed by benchmarks in Japan and Taiwan. Futures for the S&P 500 Index edged up 0.1%, while those for the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.2%.
Elsewhere, Brent crude slipped further to trade below $92 a barrel after slumping almost 6% on Monday to close at its lowest since August. President Donald Trump said further strikes on Iran wouldn’t be necessary, an indication that he’s winding down the conflict after the US midterm results underscored its unpopularity.
The Nasdaq 100 climbed 3.4% on Monday and a gauge of chip stocks in the US surged nearly 7%. That’s even as Nvidia Corp. slid 4.3% amid a probe into Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang after his admission of an affair with a woman identified in a series of reports as a suspected Chinese spy.
The rally in global tech stocks follows a tumultuous week that saw chipmakers bear the brunt of a selloff sparked by worries that the Democrats’ sweep of Congress in the US midterms may lead to tougher oversight of the AI sector. The durability of the rebound remains in question, with regulatory risks now layered on top of concerns that were weighing on the sector—stretched valuations, soaring capital spending and uncertainty over the payoff from massive AI investments.