Asian shares gain, with South Korea’s Kospi up 6%, after the US Treasury expands its debt buybacks

Asian shares experienced a rise on Thursday, mirroring gains seen on Wall Street. South Korea's leading index, the Kospi, saw a significant jump of more than 6%, reaching 6,858.91. This followed a drop of 5.8% on the previous day, driven by selling of artificial intelligence-related stocks. Samsung Electronics and memory chipmaker SK Hynix both reported strong performances, with the former up 9.7% and the latter soaring 14.1% after announcing a substantial share buyback plan.

U.S. futures rose after the U.S. Treasury Department announced plans to double the size of its purchases of longer-term government debt. This move could help alleviate pressure on stock prices from the bond market, as higher bond prices typically lead to lower yields. The announcement seemed to calm investors who had concerns about rising yields, as seen in the decline of U.S. Treasury bond yields. Bond yields typically move inversely to bond prices, so a fall in yields means bond prices are increasing.

The gains in Asian markets extended to other major indices as well. Japan's Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.3% to 66,178.26, reversing earlier week's declines. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 1.1% to 25,786.32, while the Shanghai Composite Index increased by 0.3% to 3,905.23. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3% to 9,066.40, and Taiwan's Taiex remained nearly unchanged. India's Sensex also climbed 0.7%.

The U.S. bond market reacted positively to the Treasury's announcement. The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond fell to nearly 4.64% from 4.71% on Tuesday, although it remains higher than pre-Iran war levels. The 30-year Treasury yield also decreased to 5.18% from 5.28% on Tuesday. Bond yields fell across Asia following the U.S. Treasury's announcement, with Japan's 10-year government bond yield dropping to around 2.83% from over 2.89% on Wednesday.