Global stock rally including South Korea on US-China trade truce and AI optimism

South Korea's KOSPI surpasses 4,200 points for the first time

US index futures also rise

On the 3rd, global stock markets continued to rise, with South Korea hitting consecutive record highs, as investors grew optimistic about a US-China trade truce and artificial intelligence (AI).

On the 3rd (local time), South Korea's market surpassed 4,200 points for the first time as semiconductor stocks such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix surged. The KOSPI closed that day at 4,221.87 points, up 2.78%.

Japan was closed that day. The Nikkei rose 2.12% from the previous trading day to 52,411.34 points.

China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.55%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.97%, and Taiwan's TAIEX rose 0.36% to 28,334.59 points.

In Europe, the broad STOXX 600 index rose 0.4%.

S&P 500 futures in the US were up about 0.26% around 7:00 a.m. EST, Nasdaq-100 futures were up 0.6%, and Dow Jones futures rose 0.1%.

According to October manufacturing activity data for the Asia region that day, factory orders in Asia were hit by the impact of US tariffs.

S&P Global reported that South Korea's manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell from 50.7 in September to 49.4 in October. A reading of 50 separates expansion from contraction, indicating that manufacturing activity contracted. Manufacturing activity in Taiwan and Malaysia also showed a decline.

China's factory activity in October saw both new orders and production fall, bringing China's manufacturing PMI down from 51.2 in September to 50.6 in October.

Global bonds were little changed, and the 10-year US Treasury yield stood at 4.09%. With demand for safe-haven assets easing and the dollar steady, China — a major player in the gold market — reformed the VAT system on gold trading, and gold prices moved around $4,000 per ounce.

This week, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Qualcomm, Palantir, and McDonald's are scheduled to report earnings.

Because the important economic indicator, the monthly national US employment report that is usually released in the first week of each month, was not released, ADP's private sector employment data and the company activity survey are drawing attention.

Meanwhile, as the US ended daylight saving time on the 2nd (local time), from that day the US market opening time of 9:30 a.m. becomes 11:30 p.m. Korean time.

Kim Jeong-ah, contributing reporter kja@hankyung.com