(Bloomberg) -- A jump in South Korean stocks drove emerging-market equities higher on Thursday as the revival in the global AI trade pushed Seoul's Kospi index into a technical bull market. Walter Sells Lakers, Seeks More Cash to Pay Loans Amid DOJ Probe Phoebe Gates Knew Phia Shopping App Took Credit for Sales It Didn't Drive Trump Seeks Immediate Halt to Judge's Penalties in IRS Case Anthropic Said in Talks to Buy Startup Decart for $6 Billion Trump Weighs Call for Capital Gains Tax Cuts as Midterm Boost MSCI's developing-nation stocks benchmark rose 0.8% by 9:50 a.m. in London, with four of the top six contributors to the day's gains listed in South Korea. "We remain comfortable with our overweight position in the AI sector," Mohit Kumar, a strategist at Jefferies International, wrote in a note.
"Earnings season has been strong and show no signs of slowdown in capex." The Kospi gained 3.6% on Thursday, extending its gain from a July 30 low to around 22%. Heavyweight memory chipmakers Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. drove the advance, both jumping about 5%. In other equities markets, the benchmark BUX index in Budapest traded around record levels on Thursday after closing above 150,000 points for the first time in the previous session.
Most currency markets were less lively, with the relevant MSCI gauge less than 0.1% lower on the day and trading close to flat for the week so far. The continued stalemate on the war in Iran has left energy markets in limbo, affecting the outlook for oil-importing nations. "Geopolitics remains the focus with the Strait of Hormuz still shut," Jefferies' Kumar said.
"A few more weeks of stalemate and the market should be able to take it well, but if the stalemate lasts for months instead of weeks, markets would need to reprice." Turkey's central bank on Thursday cited those geopolitical uncertainties as well as volatility in energy and food prices when it abandoned its below-consensus inflation call and moved its year-end forecast closer to market expectations. In Romania, the central bank also raised its inflation forecasts but said it will consider lowering interest rates after the inflation rate drops below the benchmark rate, which is the highest in the European Union. Authorities in Romania and neighboring Hungary continue to battle a scorching drought, which is curtailing electricity production along the Danube river.
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