Asia Market Wrap 7 September: The Kospi Jumps 4.6 Percent to the Edge of 7,000 as Chips Lift Seoul, Tokyo and Taipei
Asia rose on Monday with Wall Street closed for Labor Day. South Korea’s Kospi rose 308.18 points, or 4.61 percent, to 6,995.39, 4.61 points short of 7,000, on our calculation, as Samsung Electronics gained 5.68 percent and SK Hynix 8.26 percent, per CNBC. Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 2.12 percent to 66,399.84 with SoftBank up 11.22 percent and Advantest 4.20 percent, and Taiwan’s Taiex rose 1.67 percent to 47,326.27. 7 of the 10 benchmarks in this wrap closed higher, on our count, while Hong Kong, India and Singapore fell. United States markets were closed for the holiday.
Seoul’s second leg
The Kospi has now risen 6.3 percent over 2 sessions, on our calculation against our published closes, after Friday’s 1.64 percent, and Monday’s 308 point gain is larger than the roughly 273 points it lost on Wednesday. The small cap Kosdaq added 1.07 percent to 822.19. The move was concentrated in the 2 memory chip makers that dominate the index, and the won barely moved on the vendor’s spot quote at 10:42 GMT, a 0.08 percent slip to 1,345.23 per dollar, which reads as an equity story rather than a currency one, on our reading. LG Electronics jumped 8 percent on a local report of pre-listing fundraising for its robotics subsidiary, per the same reporting.
Tokyo rises with a stronger yen, and the ministry counts the intervention
The Nikkei 225 gained 1,378.90 points and the Topix 0.55 percent to 4,125.80, the second session in which the large cap index has outrun the broad one, even as the yen strengthened 0.98 percent to 154.71 per dollar at 10:42 GMT, beyond Thursday’s 155.28 touch. Separately, Japan’s Ministry of Finance put reserve assets at 1,207,524 million dollars at the end of August, down 79,575 million from the end of July, a 6.18 percent decline that is the steepest monthly fall since the ministry’s records began in 2000, per CNBC, which cites a Kyodo report attributing it to both yen buying intervention and lower valuations on foreign bonds as yields rose. The ministry’s own intervention releases put the operations at 11,734.9 billion yen between 28 April and 27 May and 15,399.3 billion yen between 30 July and 26 August, 27,134.2 billion yen in total on our calculation, which the same reporting describes as a record for a single year. Japan’s 10 year yield read 2.935 percent on the vendor’s screen, unchanged on the day, a stale print at the capture rather than a market read.
China splits, Hong Kong fades, India and Singapore slip
Mainland China’s boards diverged: the Shenzhen Component rose 1.91 percent to 13,774.92 while the Shanghai Composite added only 0.07 percent to 3,932.70. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.93 percent to 25,413.12, giving back more than half of Friday’s 1.74 percent rise, on our calculation, with education and energy names leading the early decline. India’s Nifty 50 lost 0.50 percent to 23,779.15 and Singapore’s Straits Times eased 0.17 percent to 5,792.28. Australia’s ASX 200 edged up 0.06 percent to 9,010.90.
Oil firm, gold lower, dollar softer
Brent for November rose 0.38 percent to 96.65 dollars a barrel against the vendor’s prior close, and WTI for October was 0.07 percent lower at 91.42. The market reporting we read described renewed tension between the United States and Iran over the weekend, including United States strikes on 3 Iranian tankers after its warships were targeted, and a statement by the United States energy secretary that a nuclear agreement with Iran may not be reached. Gold for December was 0.79 percent lower at 4,441.30 dollars, and the dollar index eased 0.24 percent to 98.943.
Asia Pacific equities, Monday 7 September, ranked by change
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Kospi (South Korea) | 6,995.39 | +4.61% |
| Nikkei 225 (Japan) | 66,399.84 | +2.12% |
| Shenzhen Component (China) | 13,774.92 | +1.91% |
| Taiex (Taiwan) | 47,326.27 | +1.67% |
| Topix (Japan) | 4,125.80 | +0.55% |
| Shanghai Composite (China) | 3,932.70 | +0.07% |
| S&P/ASX 200 (Australia) | 9,010.90 | +0.06% |
| Straits Times (Singapore) | 5,792.28 | -0.17% |
| Nifty 50 (India) | 23,779.15 | -0.50% |
| Hang Seng (Hong Kong) | 25,413.12 | -0.93% |
Closes for Monday 7 September 2026, ranked by change, captured in one call at 10:42 GMT after all 10 markets had closed. Every change reconciles exactly against our own published closes of 4 September.
Currencies and commodities at the capture
| Instrument | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Dollar/yen | 154.71 | -0.98% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 98.943 | -0.24% |
| Brent crude, ICE (Nov’26) | $96.65 | +0.38% |
| WTI crude, NYMEX (Oct’26) | $91.42 | -0.07% |
| Gold, COMEX (Dec’26) | $4,441.30 | -0.79% |
Intraday quotes captured at 10:42 GMT on 7 September 2026. Commodity changes are against the vendor’s prior close field, settlement to snapshot; the yen and the dollar index are spot quotes with no daily settlement.
Why it matters: Monday’s board is a technology board, not a macro one, on our reading. Seoul and Taipei, 2 of the 3 markets that rose most, are the region’s clearest equity exposures to the semiconductor cycle, and the Kospi’s 2 day recovery has more than erased Wednesday’s loss without any help from the won or from United States trading. Japan’s releases add the second theme: the ministry has now published the scale of official money spent supporting the yen, 27.1 trillion yen since April, and the currency strengthened further on Monday without a new operation being reported, which suggests the market’s Bank of Japan pricing is now moving in the same direction as the earlier intervention rather than against it, on our reading. Hong Kong’s decline on a day the mainland’s growth board rose is the only divergence that does not fit the chip story, on our reading.
Outlook: Tonight at 23:50 GMT Japan’s Cabinet Office publishes the second estimate of second quarter GDP, per our Week Ahead of 6 September, the first hard input into the yen before the Bank of Japan’s 17 and 18 September meeting. China’s August consumer and producer prices follow on Wednesday at 01:30 GMT. United States markets reopen on Tuesday; after Friday’s jobs report, market pricing had put roughly 60 percent odds on a Federal Reserve hike, per our US jobs report of 4 September, and Thursday’s producer prices and Friday’s consumer prices decide whether that pricing survives. The Kospi closes 4.61 points below 7,000 with Wall Street back on Tuesday.
Sources: CNBC, Ministry of Finance of Japan, The Edge.
