Asian markets rise as investors assess Nvidia leadership shake-up; Kospi up 2%

Asian equities edged higher on Friday November 13, as investors seemed to weigh what Nvidia's leadership shake-up means for the wider artificial-intelligence trade.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.3%, with South Korea leading the gains. The Kospi climbed 1.97%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 1.48% and the Topix added 0.72%. Hang Seng futures fell 0.3%. In India, the GIFT Nifty pointed to a muted start for the domestic market, with a negative bias.

The Japanese yen meanwhile, weakened past 160 per dollar for the first time since September, before rebounding on intervention speculation. It traded at 159.92 on Friday. Japan's chief currency official, Atsushi Mimura, said the recent moves looked "too fast". Japan has spent 15.4 trillion yen ($96.4 billion) on intervention this summer, according to a Bloomberg report.

US equity futures also moved higher as Nasdaq 100 contracts gained 0.6% and S&P 500 contracts rose 0.4%, after both benchmarks closed lower on Thursday. US Treasuries also, extended a selloff that began on Tuesday after higher than expected inflation data. Two-year yields climbed 14 basis points and 10-year yields rose 13 basis points.

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said further rate increases would probably be needed to tame inflation, Bloomberg reported.

The AI trade came under pressure after Nvidia's board announced that co-founder Jensen Huang had resigned as president and chief executive with immediate effect. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress took over as interim CEO and kept her finance role.

Nvidia shares plunged more than 14% on Thursday, their biggest one-day fall since 27 January 2025, when the DeepSeek scare hit the stock. The shares later recovered to trade about 8% below their previous close. The stock has now lost around 35% from its October peak of $239.24, wiping out roughly $2.2 trillion in shareholder wealth.

The chipmaker slipped to third place in the global market-cap rankings at $3.6 trillion. Apple kept the top spot at $5.2 trillion, and Microsoft moved into second at $3.9 trillion.

Investors also seemed to have turned selective rather than abandoning AI completely. Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices, which compete with Nvidia in parts of the AI chip market, rallied more than 5%. Super Micro Computer fell as much as 16%, its steepest drop in over five months, after a probe into efforts to smuggle its products to China, according to a Bloomberg report.

Traders now will also likely look to Anthropic's IPO and CoreWeave's plan to raise at least $4 billion through an investment-grade loan offering next week. Strong institutional demand for Anthropic suggests appetite for AI exposure remains firm.

Oil, meanwhile, held its gains after President Donald Trump said the US could forgo a deal with Iran. He also told Vice President JD Vance to focus on domestic issues rather than the talks with Tehran, which dimmed hopes of ending the war that has disrupted West Asian supplies.

Brent traded at $95.95 a barrel in early Asian trade, after settling around $96 on Thursday. West Texas Intermediate stayed below $89 a barrel, having added 2.6% in the previous session.

With Agency Inputs