Asian shares advance as investors shrug off the US shutdown
[October 02, 2025] By
TERESA CEROJANO
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Asian shares advanced on Thursday, tracking
Wall Street's rise to records despite the the shutdown of the U.S.
government.
Technology shares jumped on expectations of higher demand for computer
chips due to a partnership between South Korean tech and OpenAI.
U.S. futures were mixed and oil prices rose.
South Korea's Kospi closed 2.7% higher at 3,549.21 after Samsung
Electronics and SK Hynix announced their agreement with OpenAI to supply
its Stargate data hubs with memory chips.
“We expect export growth to remain resilient, led by higher chip prices,
which will likely continue to offset the tariff impact on non-chip
sectors such as autos,” the Nomura Group said in a commentary.
Shares in Samsung jumped 3.5%, while SK Hynix's shares gained 9.9%.
Taiwan-based chip maker TSMC's shares climbed 3%, helping lift the Taiex
by 1.5%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.9% to 44,936.73, with tech stocks leading
gains.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 1.7% to 27,315.29, while markets in
mainland China were closed for the Oct. 1-8 National Day holiday.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.1% to 8,945.90, with gold mining stocks
among those leading gains. India's BSE Sensex added 0.9% after the
Reserve Bank of India opted to keep its benchmark interest rate
unchanged.
On Wednesday, stocks rose to more records in U.S. trading, though yields
sank in the bond market following the latest discouraging signals on the
economy.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.3% to 6,711.20, topping its prior all-time high
set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1%, to its own
record set the day before, closing at 46,441.10. The Nasdaq composite
rose 0.4% to 22,755.16.
“Markets once again proved that they love nothing more than turning a
crisis into a stage set for higher prices,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset
Management said in a commentary.
Employers outside the government actually cut 32,000 more jobs than they
added in September, according to the survey by ADP Research, with the
Midwest particularly hard hit. The survey also revised down its numbers
for employment in August, to a loss of 3,000 jobs from a previously
reported gain of 54,000.
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Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea
Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing
room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday,
Oct. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
 Usually, traders on Wall Street wait
for a more comprehensive U.S. government jobs report to suss out how
the job market is doing. The U.S. government gets its data from a
larger sample of employers than the ADP survey.
But the next Labor Department report, scheduled for Friday, is
likely to be delayed because of the shutdown of the U.S. government
that began just after midnight.
The hope on Wall Street has been that the job market will continue
to slow just enough to convince the Federal Reserve to keep cutting
interest rates, but not by so much that it brings a recession.
That’s a delicate balance to achieve, and every economic report from
the U.S. government that gets delayed only increases the uncertainty
about whether it’s possible. Stocks have already run to records on
expectations for coming cuts to rates, so a lack of them could send
the market lower.
In other dealings on Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil added 10
cents to $61.84 per barrel. Brent crude, the international
standard,edged up 5 cents to $65.40 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar fell to 146.97 Japanese yen from 147.08 yen. The
euro rose to $1.1752 from $1.1731.
The price of gold fell back after surging to fresh highs. As of
early Thursday, it was down $1.20 at $3,896.30 per ounce. The
precious metal, often used as a safe haven for investments in times
of uncertainty, has been steadily climbing for months, gaining more
than 37% in the past year.
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AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.
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