Asian stocks fragile, Nvidia plummets as board to decide CEO’s fate

Asian stock markets started Thursday on a wobbly note, with Nvidia shares experiencing a sharp decline after its board reportedly considered ousting CEO Jensen Huang. The world's leading supplier of AI processors found itself in hot water after allegations surfaced that Huang had an affair with a suspected Chinese spy and a company executive. This scandal has cast a shadow over the company's future, leaving investors wary.

Despite the volatility, regional indexes managed to perform relatively better. South Korea's Kospi rose by 0.2%, Taiwan's shares gained 0.5%, Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 0.5%, and MSCI's Asia-Pacific index outside Japan slumped by 0.1%. However, the Nvidia stock drop weighed heavily on the S&P 500 e-mini futures, which fell by 0.4%.

Analysts noted that the AI sector's optimism had helped Wall Street make gains on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 surging by 1.3% and edging closer to recovering from the losses incurred during the recent US midterm elections. Positive developments at AI startups CoreWeave and Anthropic further fueled investor enthusiasm.

In a related development, the US dollar index held steady in Asian trade, reaching its highest level since April 9, 2022, amid speculation about a potential Federal Reserve interest rate hike. Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, experienced a slight decline of 0.9%, while Ether also saw a marginal drop of 0.9%.