Asian Indices Touch Fresh Peaks While U.S. Endures Mixed Tape Amid Divergence in Tech and Policy Outlooks

Asian equity markets traded mixed as Japan’s Nikkei and Taiwan’s TAIEX extended all-time highs driven by semiconductor strength and sustained AI hardware demand. Meanwhile, U.S. benchmarks ended unevenly with Nasdaq outperforming due to Amazon, Nvidia and AI-linked megacap advances. Fed officials remain divided on timing and magnitude of rate cuts, with the ongoing U.S. federal government shutdown affecting release timing of critical macro datasets. Crude markets remain relatively stable as OPEC+ maintained a pause on incremental production expansion to avoid disorderly price volatility.