Asia Stocks Rebound as Chipmakers Recover; Indonesia Rout Deepens With 11% Slump

3-line summary

• Asian markets rebounded Friday as investors bought the dip in tech stocks that had sold off on AI-financing debt concerns and intensifying competition from Chinese firms. Index moves: Kospi +3.3%, Nikkei 225 +1.7%, MSCI Asia-Pacific +1.1%, Hang Seng +1.2%, CSI 300 +0.9%, Shanghai Composite +1.1%, Taiwan Weighted +0.7%, Singapore STI +0.6%, Australia S&P/ASX 200 +0.9%, New Zealand NZX 50 -0.6%, India Nifty 50 futures +1.5%. The prior day, Kospi had plunged about 8% to its lowest close since late July, triggering a circuit breaker on memory-chip selling.
• Indonesia's Jakarta Composite fell more than 11%, its biggest one-day drop since January 1998, after MSCI proposed reclassifying Indonesia from emerging-market to standalone-market status, citing opaque ownership structures and suspected collusive trading; MSCI said improvements have been insufficient. MSCI has frozen index inclusion for Indonesian securities since January, with a comment period running to April 2027 and a final decision expected by the end of June (year not specified in translation, context implies next year). Indonesia's market has already posted the world's worst performance this year, with foreign investors net-selling $4.7 billion; the exchange said it has taken steps to improve transparency and its CEO has asked MSCI for an explanation.
• South Korean memory chipmakers led the chip-sector recovery — Samsung Electronics rose about 2.9%, SK Hynix about 2.2%; Japan's Kioxia rose 3.3% and Sony 2.9%; Taiwan's Foxconn rose 1.3% while Taiwan's Largan fell 5.7%. TSMC fell 0.4% despite reporting record quarterly profit and a positive revenue outlook. The report cited two drags on chip stocks: CoreWeave's debt burden, after reports its bond yields rose to distressed-debt levels, and progress by China's CXMT on next-generation DRAM technology seen as a competitive threat to Samsung and SK Hynix (CXMT shares rebounded about 5% Friday). The article noted AI-financing concerns remain. Other context cited: stronger-than-expected US inflation data revived some Fed rate-hike expectations (though October-hike odds eased somewhat), rising Saudi-Houthi tensions and shipping attacks raised oil-supply risk, and the EU is reportedly preparing new trade authority targeting China, adding uncertainty for Asian exporters.

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