Asia Market Wrap 1 October: Tokyo Rallies 3.30 Percent on Chip Strength as China Begins Golden Week

By The Edge Research Team

The Nikkei 225 rose 3.30 percent, or 2,203.00 points, to 68,956.72 on Thursday, the board’s strongest row by a wide margin, with the network’s closing report carrying the rally as led by technology and electronics stocks. Seoul’s Kospi followed at 1.95 percent higher, Taipei’s weighted index and Tokyo’s broader Topix added less than one percent each, and the red side ran from Singapore’s 0.14 percent dip to Sydney’s 1.99 percent drop, the day’s deepest fall, while India’s Nifty 50 closed 0.88 percent lower on the National Stock Exchange’s own board. Mainland China’s two boards and Hong Kong did not trade, shut for the National Day holiday that opens the week long Golden Week break. Brent crude traded at 100.52 dollars a barrel at 10:04 GMT, 2.54 percent above Wednesday’s reference level on the December contract, the front month since November’s final trading day, as published in our Commodities Wrap of 30 September 2026.

Chip names power Tokyo and Seoul while Japan’s long yields stay elevated

The session’s weight sat in Tokyo. The Nikkei 225 added 2,203.00 points to 68,956.72 and the Topix 23.33 points to 4,131.98, and the network’s closing report carried the rally as led by technology and electronics, with Lasertec surging 11.1 percent, chip testing equipment maker Advantest jumping 9.8 and index heavyweight SoftBank closing more than 4 percent higher. Seoul ran on the same complex: the Kospi gained 1.95 percent to 6,971.35, with Samsung Electronics up 2.79 percent and SK Hynix 3.21 on the network’s count, and the small cap Kosdaq rose 4.48 percent to 894.29. Reuters tied Seoul’s turn to the September trade data, with exports jumping 83.5 percent from a year earlier to a record 120.9 billion dollars, beating the 62.0 percent median forecast as semiconductor shipments more than tripled on global artificial intelligence spending, and its market report had the Kospi snapping three sessions of decline after falling as much as 1.1 percent earlier in the day. Taipei’s weighted index added 0.86 percent to 48,353.49, with no driver carried in the entries we read. The advance came against a deepening global bond selloff: the network’s Thursday yields report had Japan’s 10 year government yield at 3.126 percent, a level it called the highest in three decades, under pressure from a weaker yen and the Bank of Japan’s rate increases, with the US 10 year above 5.33 percent at a level last seen in April 2002 on the LSEG data the report cited. The yen traded 0.61 percent weaker at 158.35 per dollar at 10:04 GMT.

Sydney leads the declines and Indian auto names slide into the new month

The S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.99 percent, or 174.90 points, to 8,614.40, the day’s deepest decline, with no driver carried in the entries we read, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.14 percent to 5,667.67. India’s Nifty 50 closed 0.88 percent lower at 22,421.95 on the exchange’s own board at the Mumbai close, as auto makers fell on September sales data: per the network, Bajaj Auto declined more than 8 percent after reporting a 12 percent year on year drop in domestic sales, Mahindra and Mahindra fell more than 3 percent before recovering some ground, and Maruti Suzuki traded more than 2 percent lower ahead of its own September release, a month after the industry’s record August. Mainland China’s boards in Shanghai and Shenzhen and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were closed as the seven day National Day holiday opened, running through next Wednesday on the mainland, while Hong Kong’s exchange says in its own holiday notice that its markets reopen on Friday; the network’s holiday report carries the transport ministry’s projection of about 2.13 billion trips over the week. On the standing rows, the crude pair traded well above Wednesday’s reference levels at 10:04 GMT, Brent 2.54 percent higher at 100.52 dollars a barrel on the December contract and WTI up 2.02 percent at 92.25, after Reuters reported, citing four people briefed on the matter, that Chinese refiners have suspended oil product exports to regions beyond Hong Kong and Macau until further notice, with PetroChina cancelling a handful of gasoline and jet fuel shipments planned for October; the agency said the companies and the state planning commission did not immediately respond to its requests for comment. Gold was 0.03 percent higher at 4,188.10 dollars an ounce and the dollar index rose 0.51 percent.

Gainers

Losers

Closing levels for Thursday 1 October 2026 from the price feed at 10:04 GMT, gainers ranked by change and losers from the shallowest to the deepest decline; changes are against Wednesday 30 September closes. The India row is the closing value on the National Stock Exchange of India’s own index board at the 15:30 IST close, as the price feed’s India row had not rolled to the close. Mainland China’s two boards and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng did not trade and are not carried, closed for the National Day holiday.

Commodities and currencies

Intraday quotes at 10:04 GMT on Thursday 1 October 2026, fixed row order as a deliberate exception to ranking; snapshot levels, not settlements, with changes against Wednesday’s reference levels as carried in the price feed. The Brent row is the December 2026 contract, the front month since November’s final trading day on Wednesday as published in our Commodities Wrap of 30 September 2026, and its previous value is the December series’ own. Contract months as the feed displays them.

Why it matters: The quarter opened on a divergence: Tokyo rallied 3.30 percent on the same day the network reported Japan’s 10 year yield at a three decade high, an equity advance running straight against the bond selloff, and the chip complex led in both Tokyo and Seoul after a record Korean export month. With the mainland’s liquidity out for the week, the region’s tone belongs to Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei, and to Hong Kong from Friday, and the holiday’s travel count, about 2.13 billion trips projected per the network, is the consumption gauge the break will be read by. Across the board we published on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 was the best row at 3.30 percent higher and the S&P/ASX 200 the worst at 1.99 percent lower, on our count.

Outlook: Mainland China’s boards stay shut through next Wednesday, and Hong Kong’s markets reopen on Friday per the exchange’s own holiday notice. The week’s remaining data test is Friday’s September US employment report, expected at 84,000 nonfarm payrolls per the network, as carried in our US Market Wrap of 30 September. Our Middle East wrap follows this afternoon with the Gulf closes, and tonight’s commodities wrap reads the session’s written settlements, the Brent row now chaining on the December series.

Sources: CNBC, Reuters, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, National Stock Exchange of India, The Edge.

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