Nvidia leads Wall Street higher, Asian stock markets follow the rebound

2026-02-24 00:10:20

According to Yahoo News on February 19, most Asian stock markets rose on Thursday, driven by Wall Street’s leading tech giant—Nvidia (NVDA.US)—which led a rebound in U.S. stocks.

Meanwhile, U.S. futures edged lower, and oil prices rose amid reports that the likelihood of conflict with Iran is increasing. President Trump has been weighing military action against Iran. His administration is deploying additional military resources to the region and engaging in indirect negotiations with Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program. This has raised concerns that any military strike could escalate into a larger conflict in the Middle East.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.6%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%.

Nvidia was a major driver of the market rally. On February 18, Eastern Time, after Meta (META.US) announced a long-term partnership with Nvidia, Nvidia’s stock rose 1.6%. Under the agreement, Meta will purchase millions of Nvidia chips and other equipment for its AI data centers.

“No one can deploy AI at such a large scale as Meta,” said Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. As Nvidia is the most valuable company on Wall Street, its stock price became the single strongest factor pushing the S&P 500 higher.

On February 19, major Asia-Pacific stock indices also mostly closed higher. The Nikkei 225 closed up 0.57% at 57,467.83 points. Among the major stocks, Advantest led the decline, down 3.58%; KDDI fell 1.46%. Leading stocks included Mitsui Sumitomo Financial Group (SMFG.US), up 4.27%; Mizuho Financial Group (MFG.US), up 3.90%; Keyence, up 3.12%; Shin-Etsu Chemical, up 3.46%; and Tokyo Electron, up 2.86%. In news, surveys indicate that the Bank of Japan may raise its policy interest rate to 1% by the end of June, with 58% of economists expecting the rate to reach 1% before then.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed up 3.09% at 5,677.07 points. Among the major stocks, Hanwha Ocean rose 8.32%, Alteogen increased 7.72%, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore rose 6.29%, Hyundai Merchant Marine gained 5.83%, and Hyundai Heavy Industries increased 5.71%. On the decliners side, Shinhan Financial Group (SHG.US) fell 2.15%, and AIA Financial Group dropped 1.02%.

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