Asian markets surge on Nvidia-fueled tech rally

Mettis Global reported that Asian markets mostly moved higher on Thursday, with technology shares leading after Nvidia released quarterly results above forecasts and offered a positive revenue outlook. Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.32%, the Topix rose 0.27% and South Korea's Kospi climbed 1.83%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200, however, slipped 0.93%.

U.S. stock futures also pointed higher after a run of favorable corporate earnings, with Dow futures up 0.3%, S&P 500 futures gaining 0.5% and Nasdaq 100 futures climbing 0.8%. Nvidia stock rose over 4% ahead of the New York open, after the chipmaker beat Wall Street forecasts, as its quarterly revenue had more than doubled compared with twelve months earlier. The company also projected strong revenue growth, which boosted optimism about sustained interest in AI technologies.

Salesforce rose 13% after reporting quarterly revenue ahead of estimates, while Okta climbed over 20% on robust demand connected to agentic AI. Mettis Global also noted that Wall Street's three main indexes finished Wednesday roughly flat as investors weighed earnings and readied for the Jackson Hole symposium, which kicks off Thursday. Market participants are also tracking Middle East developments, mixed reports on the Strait of Hormuz, China's industrial profits data and the Federal Reserve's signals on the future direction of U.S. interest rates.