Asia report: Nvidia earnings boost tech stocks, but markets mixed

(Sharecast News) - Asian stock markets finished mixed on Thursday, though sentiment across the chip sector was lifted by blockbuster results from American semiconductor giant Nvidia.

Shares in Nvidia jumped after the closing bell on Wall Street after the chip designer and computing infrastructure giant reported a doubling of revenues in the second quarter and delivered sales guidance well ahead of market forecasts.

Despite increasing market concerns about a slowdown in the AI boom, chief executive and founder Jensen Huang said demand was still picking up and the AI infrastructure buildout was at "full steam".

South Korea's KOSPI index - widely viewed as an AI investment play given the sector's large weighting on the benchmark - finished 1.5% higher.

"Nvidia has fired a flare directly over the semiconductor complex, lifting the Kospi by around 1% and putting SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics and Kioxia at the front of the pack," said market commentator Stephen Innes.

However, the three-day Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium of central bankers and finance ministers in Wyoming, which begins on Thursday, was likely weighing on risk appetite outside of the chip and AI sectors, according to Innes.

As a result, stocks across Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore all declined, with the Nikkei 225 down 0.2%, the Hang Seng down 0.3% and the STI 0.7% lower.

"Jackson Hole is keeping the champagne bottle raised rather than smashed across the hull, preventing Nvidia's lift from becoming a full all-boats launch," Innes said.

"Few traders are likely to push every engine to maximum thrust before Warsh delivers his first Jackson Hole address as Fed chair. If he signals that persistent inflation requires another turn of the screw, the AI earnings runway may remain long, but the financing cost attached to it will be steeper."

In other news, oil prices continued to retreat as investors digested the news of diplomatic efforts to broker a deal between Iran and Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Brent was down 1.4% at $86.66 a barrel.