Korean and Taiwanese markets rise on semiconductor strength…Chinese and Japanese markets fall

Bitcoin slightly rebounds in Asian markets

Nvidia earnings due this week

On the 17th, tensions between China and Japan deepened and Chinese and Japanese markets fell, but the Korean and Taiwanese markets rose. US stock index futures also turned higher.

That day, the Korean market closed at 4,089.25, up 1.94%, led by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as indicators showed strong memory chip demand and price increases.

Taiwan's Taiex also rose 0.18% as TSMC, whose American Depositary Receipts (ADR) rose in US markets the previous trading day, climbed in the 1% range.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.2% as quarterly growth turned negative for the first time in six quarters due to the impact of US tariffs and China warned against travel to Japan, causing tourism and retail stocks to decline. China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.46%, and the Hang Seng Index fell 0.71%.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% in Asian markets, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.7%.

This Wednesday (19th), Nvidia's earnings will be announced and large retailers such as Walmart, Target, and Home Depot will also report earnings this week. On Thursday, US labor market data for September that was not released during the shutdown will be published. Since private surveys have already released indicators showing a cooling labor market, this figure may not have a large impact on the market.

Over the past weekend, Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey Schmidt and Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Lorie Logan questioned the need to cut rates in December, cooling expectations for a rate cut.

Bitcoin, which has recently served as a barometer for sentiment in tech stocks, fell more than 10% last week, marking its largest weekly decline since March. Bitcoin fell to the $93,000 range in the US market on the 16th, but rose slightly to the $95,000 range in Asian markets on the 17th.

Guest reporter Kim Jeong-a kja@hankyung.com