(Sharecast News) - Asia-Pacific markets finished mixed on Friday after a strong Wall Street session overnight put the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite on track for weekly gains, as investors returned to semiconductor names while oil prices eased.
"Forget the Strait - investors are back on the semis," said Patrick Munnelly, market strategy partner at TickMill.
"After a week dominated by Iran headlines, oil spikes, and bond-market stress, investors are ending the week by returning to the trade they know best: technology, semiconductors, and the AI capex cycle."
US stocks rallied on Thursday, helped by cooling oil prices after president Donald Trump said Iran had called to make a deal.
Qatar and Pakistan were trying to bring Washington and Tehran back into negotiations, officials from the countries told MS Now.
Positive momentum for chipmakers also supported sentiment, with investors continuing to hope that strong earnings growth can help the market broaden beyond technology and sustain its advance.
Japanese and South Korean technology stocks rose on Friday, tracking a rally in US chipmakers.
Munnelly said the Middle East had not disappeared as a risk, but markets were no longer pricing a straight line from military escalation to global energy disruption while Brent was off its highs and US-Iran technical talks remained alive.
"The message from Asia is simple - the AI dip-buyers are still there," he said.
"The sector had been battered by valuation concerns, oil-driven rate repricing, and profit-taking in crowded semiconductor names.
"But the willingness to buy back into SK Hynix and the broader Korean chip complex shows investors still view the AI investment boom as a structural story, not just a momentum trade."
Oil prices edged lower, with Brent crude futures last down 0.13% on ICE at $76.20 per barrel, and the NYMEX quote for West Texas Intermediate falling 0.12% to $71.99.
Seoul leads gains on mixed day for region
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.2% to 68,557.73, while the broader Topix gained 0.39% to 4,036.08.
Sumco Corporation surged 15.4%, SoftBank Group climbed 10.65%, and Mitsubishi Motors added 9.44%.
Munnelly said Asian equities had rallied strongly, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rising 1.7% and cutting its weekly loss to less than 1%.
"Still, the global equity tone is not euphoric," he said.
"US and European futures are slightly softer, suggesting investors are not blindly chasing the Asia rally."
In China, the Shanghai Composite fell 1% to 3,996.16, while the Shenzhen Component dropped 2.29% to 15,046.67.
Jiangsu Lopal Tech lost 9.99%, Quick Intelligent Equipment fell 9.96%, and Zhejiang Great Shengda Packaging declined 9.8%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.6% to 24,175.12.
CK Hutchison gained 7.53%, WuXi AppTec rose 4.09%, and Innovent Biologics added 3.88%.
South Korea's Kospi 100 advanced 2.24% to 9,385.25.
Doosan jumped 14.88%, Hyundai-Rotem rose 11.39%, and Hanwha Systems gained 10.82%.
Shares of SK Hynix rose 5% at the open before paring gains to close 0.27% lower, as the chipmaker prepared to make its Nasdaq debut on Friday.
Domestic rival Samsung Electronics rose 2.52%.
Earlier in the session, the Korea Exchange activated a buy-side sidecar after Kospi 200 futures surged more than 5%, temporarily halting programme trading for five minutes.
Munnelly said South Korea had provided the strongest signal, with the Kospi jumping sharply as investors bought back into AI-linked hardware names.
"SK Hynix is the centerpiece," he said.
"Its ADRs begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker SKHYV, before shifting to SKHY when regular trading starts on 13 July."
Munnelly said the offering was expected to help fund the company's investment push into AI computing infrastructure, alongside Samsung Electronics, as part of South Korea's broader government-backed semiconductor initiative valued at $880bn.
"That is exactly the kind of story equity investors want to own into earnings season," he said.
"Not abstract AI enthusiasm, but capital raising, capacity expansion, data center demand, and hardware bottlenecks."
Sydney in the green as Wellington takes a break
Heading down under, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% to 8,806.00.
Mesoblast gained 6.67%, Capstone Copper rose 6.45%, and South32 added 5.24%.
Markets in New Zealand were closed for the Matariki holiday.
Dollar weaker against regional G10 peers
In currencies, the dollar was last down 0.37% on the yen to trade at JPY 161.78, as it declined 0.11% against the Aussie to AUD 1.4391, and slipped 0.28% on the Kiwi to change hands at NZD 1.7328.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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