Asia: Markets mixed after Nvidia earnings

ASIAN markets were mixed on Thursday after AI powerhouse Nvidia’s quarterly earnings beat expectations but its shares slipped over worries about the company’s stalled business in China.

Investors had been awaiting the key earnings update from the California-based firm, whose robust growth has largely driven strong gains for tech stocks in recent months.

The AI giant posted a profit of US$26.4 billion on record revenue of US$46.7 billion in the recently ended quarter, but shares fell in after-market trading as important data centre revenue declined.

The earnings report comes amid market worries about an AI spending bubble that could burst and hurt the chip giant’s fortunes.

“The information feeds into niggling fears of slowing investment in the AI space and lower growth going forward,” Kyle Rodda, senior market analyst at Capital.com in Melbourne told Bloomberg News.

During Thursday morning trading in Asia, Hong Kong and Taipei were down, while Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai advanced.

In Japan, media reported Thursday that Tokyo’s chief negotiator for the trade agreement with the United States, Ryosei Akazawa, had postponed his planned trip to Washington.

Akazawa said on Wednesday he hoped to use this trip to pressure the US administration to implement reduced tariffs agreed upon in July.

In Europe, the Paris stock market bucked the downward trend Wednesday by rebounding from the previous day’s tumble.

That fall had been caused by fears that France’s minority government could be toppled after Prime Minister Francois Bayrou proposed a confidence vote over his proposed budget cuts.

France’s borrowing costs have soared since the vote was called Monday, as the government wrestles with how to find around 44 billion euros (S$65.6 billion) in savings. AFP