Asian shares track US stock market's rise to record highs despite AI bubble worries

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.2% to 50,768.12, rebounding from the previous session’s losses.

Investors remain cautious ahead of next week’s policy meeting of the Bank of Japan, where it is expected to raise interest rates, but technology shares helped lead broad gains.

Softbank Group’s 6% jump in early trading slipped to a 1% gain by midday.

In Chinese markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.4% to 25,881.66 while the Shanghai Composite index picked up 0.2% to 3,882.40.

An annual planning meeting, the annual Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing on Wednesday to Thursday, setting China’s priorities for 2026. According to state media reports, those include working to reverse a decline in investment and to boost consumer spending. However, no major policy shifts were reported.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3% to 8,700.80.

In Seoul, South Korea’s Kospi rose nearly 0.7 to 4,138.64.

Taiwan's Taiex index added 0.2% while India's BSE Sensex rose 0.4%.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 inched up 0.2% to 6,901.00 and eked past its prior all-time closing high, which was set in October. The Dow Jones Industrial leaped 1.3% to 48,704.01, to top its own record set last month. The Nasdaq composite lagged behind and slipped 0.3% to 23,593.86 because of weakness in AI stocks.

It’s the latest return to records for the market following what had appeared to be a debilitating set of worries. Some of the most recent included concerns about what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates and whether all the dollars flowing into AI chips and data centers will produce profits and productivity as prolific as proponents are promising.

The Fed on Wednesday cut its main interest rate for the third time this year and indicated another cut may be ahead in 2026. Wall Street loves lower interest rates because they can boost the economy and send prices for investments higher, even if they potentially make inflation worse.

But a return to records for the U.S. stock market does not mean all worries are gone.

Oracle dropped 10.8% and had briefly been on track earlier in the day for its worst loss since 2001, when the dot-com bubble was still deflating. Doubts remain about whether all the spending that Oracle is doing on AI technology will be worth it.

Such doubts are weighing on the AI industry broadly, even as many billions of dollars continue to flow in.

Nvidia, the chip company that’s become the poster child of the AI boom and is raking in close to $20 billion each month, fell 1.5% Thursday. It was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 because of its massive size.

In other dealings early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 52 cents to $58.12 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard added 49 cents to $61.77 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose to 155.70 Japanese yen from 155.58. The euro slid to $1.1737 from 1.1739.

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AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.