Asian markets settled mostly higher on Thursday following US chipmaker Nvidia's Strong Q4 Earnings due to demand for its chips used for artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, minutes from the Federal Reserve's January 30-31 meeting showed that the US Fed officials were in no hurry to begin cutting interest rates. Japan’s Nikkei surpassed all-time high hit in 1989, despite data showing that factory activity extended declines and service sector growth eased in February. Chinese shares gained after the country banned major institutional investors from selling equity holdings during the 30 minutes at the open and close of each trading day, part of the government’s most forceful attempt yet to stabilize its $8.6 trillion stock market. Moreover, Seoul shares rose as the Bank of Korea left its interest rates unchanged for a ninth straight meeting and vowed to maintain a restrictive stance to stabilize inflation at 2%.
| Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
| Shanghai Composite | 2,988.36 | 37.40 | 1.25 |
| Hang Seng | 16,742.95 | 239.85 | 1.43 |
| Jakarta Composite | 7,339.64 | -9.38 | -0.13 |
| KLSE Composite | 1,545.49 | -6.91 | -0.45 |
| Nikkei 225 | 39,098.68 | 836.52 | 2.14 |
| Straits Times | 3,222.94 | 5.83 | 0.18 |
| KOSPI Composite | 2,664.27 | 10.96 | 0.41 |
| Taiwan Weighted | 18,852.78 | 176.47 | 0.94 |
