Asian Markets Mostly Rise; S Korea Stocks Surge Nearly 6% to Outperform, SK hynix Inc. Jumps Nearly 13%, Japan Auto Stocks Rally

The US Treasury said overnight (19th) that it will increase the scale of long-term Treasury buybacks, with the maximum buyback amount raised from USD2 billion to at least USD4 billion. The yield on the 30-year US Treasury retreated from the 19-year peak reached the previous day, last reported at 5.222%. The pullback in US Treasury yields improved market sentiment, while SK hynix Inc. (SKHY.US) announced a large-scale share buyback plan, leading major Asia-Pacific markets to mostly advance today (20th), with South Korean equities outperforming the region after surging nearly 6% for the day.

Mainland China's three major A-share indices posted moderate gains for the full day. The Shanghai Composite Index and Shenzhen Component Index closed up 0.24% and 0.59% respectively at 3,903 and 13,972, while the ChiNext Index rose 0.64% to 3,495. The HSI closed at 25,698, up 203 points or 0.8%, with full-day turnover of HKD269.119 billion. Taiwan stocks rose 214 points or nearly 0.5% to 44,933. TSMC rose 1.1% and Hon Hai edged up 0.6%. MediaTek fell 3.8%, UMC was steady, and Delta Electronics declined 1.1%. Memory-related shares Nanya Technology and Winbond Electronics rose 7.5% and 5.1% respectively.

South Korea's KOSPI surged 381 points or 5.9% to 6,852, ending a two-day losing streak. Heavyweight memory stocks rallied, with Samsung Electronics soaring 9.5%. According to South Korean media reports, Samsung Electronics plans to announce a shareholder return plan exceeding KRW100 trillion (about USD72 billion) after holding a board meeting later this month. SK hynix Inc. (SKHY.US) -related shares in South Korea jumped 12.7% after the company announced yesterday (19th) a KRW40 trillion, or about USD28.6 billion, share buyback plan. The company also plans to allocate more than 50% of cumulative free cash flow to shareholder returns through next year.

Japan's Nikkei Index rebounded 890 points or 1.4% to 66,216, ending a two-day losing streak. Memory stock Kioxia (285A.JP) rose 6%. As markets anticipated that the US and Canada could reach a trade agreement before the deadline, Japanese auto stocks rallied. Nissan (7201.JP) and Mazda (7261.JP) climbed 5.9% to 6.8%, while Subaru (7270.JP), Honda (7267.JP) and Toyota (7203.JP) each gained more than 4%, and Suzuki (7269.JP) rose 3.2%. SoftBank (9984.JP) added 3.1% and Tokyo Electric Power (9501.JP) gained 4.6%.

Indonesia's IDX rose 1.7% and the Philippines' PSEI gained 1.3%. Singapore stocks fell 0.4% for the day. Malaysia's KLCI rose 0.3%. Australia's ASX 200 Index closed up 0.3%, while New Zealand's NZX 50 Index edged down 0.1%. India's BSE Sensex rose 0.8% and the Nifty 50 Index gained 0.7%. Vietnam's Hanoi Index fell 0.5% while the Ho Chi Minh Index rose 0.4%. Thailand's SET 50 edged up 0.1%. (da/a)(Real-time Streaming US Stocks Quote; Except All OTC quotes are at least 15 minutes delayed.)