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StreetAccount Summary - Asian Market Recap: Hang Seng +1.22%, Shanghai Composite +1.17%, Kospi +6.45% as of 04:10 ET

May 06 ,2026

• Synopsis:

  • Asia equities ended higher across the region Wednesday with technology stocks again leading, and taking the MSCI Asia Pac ex Japan index to a fresh record high. South Korea's Kospi finished up more than 6% to make a 12% WTD gain, Taiwan lagged but still ended higher. Hong Kong gained and mainland China stocks also ended higher following their holiday; Australia and Southeast Asia all higher, India a laggard. Japan markets remained on holiday. US futures higher, Europe opened with strong gains. US dollar lower, yen strengthening sharply on talk of further intervention, AUD and NZD also notably stronger, yuan higher. Precious metals all strong, crude oil contracts steeply lower with Brent below $107/bl. Base metals rallying. Cryptocurrencies mostly higher.

  • The AI-related surge continued Wednesday in Asia trade with more strong gains in several leading South Korea names including Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) up around 15% to take its valuation to more than $1T, SK Hynix up 10.6%, and LG Electronics (066570.KS) up 8.7%. The move followed a strong day on Wall Street overnight, and post market gains by AMD after it guided for strong revenue and raised long-term growth projections. Sentiment boosted further by a dip in crude prices after President Trump paused his plan to provide safe passage to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, citing progress in permanent peace talks with Iran.

  • In regional developments, the yen took a second leg lower against the US dollar in a matter of days after a likely intervention by Tokyo; the yen also strengthened against the euro and Swiss franc among others. Consumer prices in South Korea and Thailand for April spiked sharply with both nations recording very sharp increases in prices of products related to imported oil. China's RatingDog private PMI mirrored many others in the region for April with manufacturing output improving notably but cost inputs also rising. Singapore's PMI also improved in April but Hong Kong's print fell to a ten-month low. New Zealand employment growth tepid in Q1 as pessimistic firms turn more cautious about hiring.

  • Honda Motor (7267.JP ) has shelved plans for a Canada-based EV plant amid faltering demand for electric vehicles. Sany Heavy (6031.HK) is said to be considering an IPO for its electric unit in Hong Kong. China's chip fund said to be in talks to lead funding for DeepSeek, according to the FT. Coupang (CPNG) posted a quarterly loss amid the fallout from its customer data breach. Atlas Arteria (ALX.AU) has rejected a $5.3B takeover bid from its largest shareholder. Digico Infrastructure (DGT.AU) is to sell a Chicago data center for $750M to pay down debt and fund the development of its Sydney site.

• Digest:

  • Trump pauses Project Freedom, cites progress in talks with Iran:

    • President Trump said he is pausing Project Freedom, citing progress towards comprehensive agreement with Iran (Reuters). Blockade will remain in place. Decision to pause comes after attempts to escort commercial vessels on Monday through Strait of Hormuz invited Iranian fire and prompted US to retaliate. UAE was also subject to drone and missile attacks, flaring up tensions and testing the ceasefire. Market viewing Trump's pause as a de-escalatory move with crude futures retreating further (WTI back to $100).

    • While US has continued military buildup in region, White House also signaling little appetite to resume war with Trump telling reporters he didn't want further bloodshed. Secretary of State Rubio added that Operation Epic Fury is now concluded with operational objectives achieved and focus is now on reopening Strait of Hormuz (Bloomberg). US also sought to play down Monday's skirmish, saying Iranian actions didn't constitute breach of ceasefire.

    • Developments have largely returned US and Iran back to status quo where talks have so far failed to bridge meaningful differences over Strait of Hormuz and uranium enrichment/HEU stockpiles. US and Iran continuing negotiations amid backdrop of elevated tensions, but no signs from Iran it is backing down on its claims over Strait of Hormuz. On Tuesday Iran ordered ships to comply with its new framework for managing the waterway and receive authorization before transiting. Iran's recently revised 14-point plan also punted talks on nuclear issue until its other demands are met first.

  • Samsung market cap eclipses $1T as Kospi sails past 7K:

    • South Korea's Kospi index sped past 7K for first time on Wednesday with surge triggering another 'sidecar' trading halt in Kospi futures. Market strength largely driven by an unrelenting rally in memory giants with SK Hynix (000660.KS) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) extending their week-to-date gains to more than 20%. Samsung saw its market cap eclipse $1T, second Asian company to do so behind TSMC (Bloomberg). Latest Samsung rally follows Bloomberg source report Tuesday that Apple has held talks with Intel and Samsung about producing main processors for its devices.

    • Prolonged global memory shortage remains the dominant market theme in South Korea with Kospi continuing to blow past sell-side index targets. Strong ASP-driven earnings growth seen continuing through 2027 while the two stocks trade on undemanding multiples with Samsung's forward P/E of 5.9x well down on 14.4x it was trading on back in October. Kospi's forward P/E of 7.5x also viewed favorably relative to global peers.

    • Strength of the rally in inviting concerns about concentration risks with SK Hynix and Samsung comprising more than 43% of index and driving significant proportion of its rally. Macro risks from hawkish central bank messaging with BOK Deputy Governor Ryoo on Tuesday warning it may be time consider raising interest rates. Resumption of hostilities in Iran seen as another potentially negative catalyst. Technicals moving further into overbought territory while hedging demand picking up with Kospi VIX up 7.5% Wednesday to highest since late March.

  • South Korea, Thailand April inflation spikes, joining other Asia nations with sharp CPI increases:

    • South Korea April inflation rose at fastest pace since Jul-24 driven by sharp increase in fuel costs, statistics agency said Wednesday. Headline CPI rose 2.6% y/y and 0.5% m/m, while core CPI rose 2.2% y/y and 0.3% m/m, all near consensus expectations, with outsized increases in transport costs of 3.4% y/y and petroleum products which rose 21.9% y/y, its sharpest increase since Jul-22. Many other clusters saw below mean price increases. Separately, Thailand April inflation rose to 2.9% from March's 0.1% contraction, above consensus 1.5% and near BOT's 1-3% range; core inflation at 0.8% versus 0.6% consensus but almost flat m/m (TheNation).

    • South Korea and Thailand join other Asia nations in seeing sharp increase in prices; as well as notable increases reported in input costs in regional April PMIs, CPI figures from Tokyo, Indonesia and Vietnam all increased y/y and m/m while Philippine inflation reached 7.2% y/y, far above economists' and central bank expectations.

    • Higher prices already led to monetary tightening in Singapore and Philippines while Sunday, Bank of Korea senior deputy governor Ryoo Sang-dai it may be time for BOK to consider rate hike given economic growth unlikely to fall much below bank's projection but inflation likely to exceed forecasts (Bloomberg).

  • Mainland China stocks advance after five-day holiday:

    • Mainland China bourses reopened sharply higher on Wednesday after five-day Labor Day holiday. Tech-heavy STAR 50 Index jumped 5.5% for the day and pushed the tech gauge near all-time high in Jul-20.

    • Semiconductor-related stocks, including Hygon Information Technology (688041.CH), Biwin Storage Technology (688525.CH), Montage Technology (688008.CH) and Cambricon Technologies (688256.CH), were sharply higher, joining broader AI-related rally that powered multiple benchmarks in North Asia to record highs (Bloomberg).

    • China's tech self-sufficiency push also getting more investor attention while improvements in earnings of tech companies provide further tailwind. ShanghaiSecuritiesNews reported 608 listed STAR Board companies reported 10.2% y/y growth in combined revenue and 26.6% y/y rise in net profit with 60% of companies posting positive profit growth in 2025.

    • Broader Shanghai Composite rose 1.2%, helped by strong holiday travel data (Xinhua, ShanghaiSecuritiesNews). Meanwhile box office during the holiday continues to underwhelm despite wave of new releases (Caixin, SCMP).

  • Street upbeat on Toyota earnings as other Japan automakers consolidate offshore operations:

    • More than usual attention on upcoming Toyota (7203.JP) earnings Friday as a barometer of Middle East effects on the Japanese economy (Nikkei). FY25 results also to reflect Trump tariff headwinds, projected to be JPY1.45T, contributing to an expected 21% drop in operating income. Yet, global car sales and production over the period both grew 2% driven by hybrid models such as Camry. FY26 already saw Middle East conflict prompting cutbacks to domestic production by 18K in April and overseas production over May-Nov in the order of 38K. Yet, consensus remains upbeat with QUICK forecasts for FY26 OP looking for some 20% growth over FY25 guidance amid waning tariff impacts and solid sales grwoth. However, supply chain risks loom over the outlook with warning signals from key supplier companies in terms of higher rare earth prices and naphtha supply uncertainties. Additional risks coming from FX in light of recent yen volatility culminating in intervention. Meanwhile, other major automakers still reeling. FT reported Nissan (7201.JP) plans to cut about 10% of its European workforce and combine the two production lines at its Sunderland plant in the UK as part of ongoing restructuring efforts. Nikkei reported Honda (7267.JP) set to freeze EV production indefinitely in Canada in response to sluggish US demand. Follows a two-year delay to construction of a factory in Ontario.

  • Notable Gainers:

    • +14.5% 256.HK (Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group): proposes 1 for 3 rights issue to raise up to HK$145.1M

    • +14.4% 005930.KS (Samsung Electronics): South Korean memory stocks surging as SOX closes +4.2%

    • +13% 377300.KS (kakaopay): reports Q1 results

    • +12.5% 544.SP (CSE Global): Q1 Update

    • +11.2% 1357.HK (Meitu Inc): Q1 Update

    • +2.5% 323410.KS (KakaoBank): reports Q1 results; net income ahead of FactSet estimates

  • Notable Decliners:

    • -12.4% 1277.HK (Kinetic Development Group): Completes subscription for MC Mining shares

    • -4.8% 041510.KS (SM Entertainment): reports Q1 results

• Data:

  • Economic:

    • China

      • April RatingDog Services PMI 52.6 vs consensus 52.0 and 52.1 in prior month

        • RatingDog Composite PMI 53.1 vs 51.5 in prior month

    • South Korea

      • April CPI +2.6% y/y vs FactSet consensus +2.6% and +2.2% in prior month

        • CPI ex-food & energy +2.2% vs +2.2% in prior month

    • New Zealand Q1 employment +0.2% q/q vs consensus +0.3% and +0.5% in Q4

      • Unemployment rate 5.3% vs consensus 5.4% and 5.4% in Q4

  • Markets:

    • Nikkei: Closed

    • Hang Seng: 315.17 or +1.22% to 26213.78

    • Shanghai Composite: 48.01 or +1.17% to 4160.17

    • Shenzhen Composite: 62.32 or +2.24% to 2838.55

    • ASX200: 113.10 or +1.30% to 8793.60

    • KOSPI: 447.57 or +6.45% to 7384.56

    • SENSEX: 18.32 or +0.02% to 77036.11

  • Currencies:

    • $-¥: (1.70) or (1.07%) to 156.1930

    • $-KRW: (15.85) or (1.08%) to 1451.4800

    • A$-$: +0.01 or +0.70% to 0.7233

    • $-INR: (0.14) or (0.14%) to 94.9740

    • $-CNY: (0.02) or (0.23%) to 6.8147