Märkte Asien: Zweifel an Zukunft von Nvidia-Chef Huang bremsen Südkoreas Börse

The setback of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's future is dampening the recovery rally of semiconductor stocks on South Korea's stock exchange on Monday. While Tokyo and Taipei led the positive trend of US semiconductor values from Friday, South Korea's Kospi Index went against the Asian trend in the red. In the first trading hours, the leading index managed to reach a 1.6 percent gain at 5,140 points, lagging significantly behind its neighboring exchanges.

Japan's Nikkei-225 Index rose by 3.4 percent to 59,411 points by midday, while the broader Topix also climbed by 3.4 percent to 3,834 points. The Taiwan Stock Exchange, dominated by the largest chip contract manufacturer TSMC, surged 6.5 percent to 42,297 points in the first 90 minutes of trading. The less semiconductor-dependent markets exhibited inconsistent performance.

Singapore's Straits Times Index fell by more than two percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng trended slightly positive, while the Shanghai Composite Index was 0.5 percent above the previous Friday's closing price in early trading. The reluctance in Seoul stems from growing doubts about Huang's future. "Investors are currently processing new uncertainties surrounding Nvidia," reported the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

The reason: Nvidia's board of directors initiated an independent investigation on Sunday (US time) to clarify allegations that the company's chief had become the target of a suspected Chinese spy.