Asian equities showed signs of stabilising on Thursday, but investors remained cautious after a turbulent week marked by a sharp AI-driven market sell-off, uncertainty over the US interest rate outlook and renewed geopolitical tensions that briefly sent oil prices soaring.Taiwan’s benchmark climbed 666.47 points to 40,705.65, up 1.66%, while South Korea’s Kospi gained 201.22 points to 5,864.46, rising 3.55%. Japan’s Nikkei rose 881.37 points to 62,315.56, up 1.43%. Even so, the Nikkei was still headed for a weekly decline of 3%, while the Kospi remained on track for a 12% fall.In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng slipped 34.84 points to 25,773.08, down 0.13% around 8 am IST. In China, Shanghai lost 12.14 points to 3,816.329, down 0.32%, while Shenzhen declined 299.165 points to 13,359.279, falling 2.19%.Elsewhere, Australia’s ASX 200 fell 0.48%, Singapore’s STI eased 0.64% and Malaysia’s benchmark was down 0.15%. New Zealand’s NZX 50 dropped 1.43%.The sharp correction in South Korean equities has been at the centre of investor concerns this week after more than $2 trillion was wiped off the country’s stock market. The sell-off, concentrated in chipmakers, has fuelled worries over whether the massive investments being made in artificial intelligence will generate adequate returns. The decline was severe enough for Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol to apologise for the introduction of single-stock leveraged ETFs.“Given that the fundamental thesis remains intact, there does appear to be an irrational, panic-like element to the current selling,” Gina Kim, portfolio manager for emerging market equities at Nordea Asset Management in Singapore told Reuters.“I cannot comment on when the panic will stop as such but some indicators to look out for would be margin balances in both Taiwan and Korea for retail investors. Both are declining but we would ideally need to see some levelling off,” said Kim.Samsung Electronics offered some support to market sentiment after reporting a record second-quarter operating profit, up 19-fold from a year earlier.In commodities, Brent crude slipped back below $90 a barrel after jumping more than 7% in the previous session as fighting in the Middle East intensified. Despite continued missile and drone attacks, tanker traffic out of the region has continued, according to available data, easing some immediate supply concerns.The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, but its policy decision did little to settle markets. Instead, the split within the central bank left investors debating whether further rate hikes remain on the table.The uncertainty was reflected in the bond market, where longer-dated treasury yields climbed to their highest levels in 19 years. The 30-year treasury yield stood at 5.2039% after touching 5.2273%, its highest level since June 2007. The dollar also weakened following the policy announcement.At his post-meeting press conference, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh reiterated the central bank’s commitment to tackling inflation but refrained from signalling its next move. He pointed to the rise in bond yields since the previous policy meeting, saying markets had already priced in tighter financial conditions, while noting that did not necessarily require the Fed to act.
