{"slug": "asian-shares-follow-wall-street-higher-while-the-japanese-yen-hits-a-39-year-low", "title": "Asian shares follow Wall Street higher, while the Japanese yen hits a 39-year low against the dollar", "summary": "Asian shares mostly rose on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street gains, while the Japanese yen hit a 39-year low against the U.S. dollar, trading near 162 yen. South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan rebounded from earlier losses, with chip stocks like Samsung and SK Hynix rising after announcing over $500 billion in chipmaking and AI investments. The yen's slump, driven by interest rate differentials, has spurred speculation of intervention by Japanese authorities.", "body_md": "# Asian shares follow Wall Street higher, while the Japanese yen hits a 39-year low against the dollar\n\nHONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher on Tuesday, [tracking Wall Street gains](https://apnews.com/article/stocks-markets-ai-chips-oil-iran-war-8e1287dac3ff8f27ff280beb9a9c06b0), while the Japanese yen was trading near a 40-year low against the U.S. dollar.\n\nShares in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan rebounded from earlier losses spurred by selling of technology companies due to concerns over the sustainability of the boom in artificial intelligence.\n\nTokyo's Nikkei 225 was up 0.9% to 70,062.32. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron jumped 3.3%. SoftBank Group, an investment holding company that invests in OpenAI, was up 1.2%.\n\nSouth Korea's Kospi index, which has performed strongly during the global AI frenzy due to growing demand for memory chips from major chipmakers like SK Hynix, gained 1 to 8,476.48.\n\nShares of Samsung Electronics rose 3.4% and those of SK Hynix rose 0.8% after the two companies and the government jointly [announced plans](https://apnews.com/article/korea-samsung-ai-hynix-chips-22352d95c7a821c5f4548b2d1a4ebde8) for over $500 billion of investments in the country's chipmaking and AI.\n\nElsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.6% to 22,879.87 and the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.5% to 4,094.40. Taiwan's Taiex picked up 2.5%.\n\nChina reported its [factory activity](https://apnews.com/article/china-manufacturing-economy-pmi-exports-39fd69ecc346364bb9f5c848d992d802) slightly picked up pace in June, mainly due to exports and demand generated by expanding use of AI. The survey released by the National Bureau of Statistics said the manufacturing purchasing managers index, or PMI, expanded to 50.3 in June from 50 in May. That's better than had been expected.\n\nAustralia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.5% to 8,778.70, while India's Sensex was nearly unchanged.\n\nThe dollar rose to nearly 162.42 yen early Tuesday in Tokyo, its highest level since late 1986, and was trading at 162.16 yen by late afternoon.\n\nThe yen's prolonged slump against the dollar, largely due to a gap between interest rates in the U.S. and Japan, has spurred speculation that Tokyo might intervene to prop up the currency. However, Japan's finance minister said only that the government was ready to \"respond appropriately whenever necessary.\"\n\nEarlier interventions appeared only to slow the dollar's rise against the yen.\n\nThe dollar to yen rate \"has spiked above 162 as everyone is holding their breath to see when Japanese officials intervene,\" Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote said in a commentary. \"Intervening now would change nothing about the underlying market direction, but would cost dearly. Unless we see an aggressive sell-off in the yen, the Japanese authorities seem willing to remain on the sidelines.\"\n\nThe euro fell to $1.1409 from $1.1422.\n\nU.S. futures edged higher.\n\nOn Monday, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 added 1.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 2.1%.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/asian-shares-follow-wall-street-higher-while-the-japanese-yen-hits-a-39-year-low", "canonical_source": "https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-shares-mostly-higher-tracking-044745928.html", "published_at": "2026-06-30 08:09:42+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-30 08:21:21.577888+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-chips", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Samsung Electronics", "SK Hynix", "Tokyo Electron", "SoftBank Group", "OpenAI", "National Bureau of Statistics", "Swissquote", "Ipek Ozkardeskaya"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/asian-shares-follow-wall-street-higher-while-the-japanese-yen-hits-a-39-year-low", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/asian-shares-follow-wall-street-higher-while-the-japanese-yen-hits-a-39-year-low.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/asian-shares-follow-wall-street-higher-while-the-japanese-yen-hits-a-39-year-low.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/asian-shares-follow-wall-street-higher-while-the-japanese-yen-hits-a-39-year-low.jsonld"}}