Asia Market Wrap 23 September: Taipei Sets a Second Record Close as Seoul Leads Into Chuseok
Asia closed split on Wednesday around a thinning holiday map. South Korea’s Kospi led the board, 0.90 percent higher at 7,080.92, a fourth straight gain on our boards before the Chuseok break that shuts Seoul on Thursday and Friday, per the exchange’s holiday calendar, and Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.75 percent to 48,157.29, a second straight record close per Taiwan’s Central News Agency. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.01 percent to lead the losers, the two mainland benchmarks followed it down, and Japan’s cash equity markets were closed for the third and final day of their holiday run, with Tokyo set to reopen on Thursday. Brent crude traded 0.07 percent higher at 99.32 dollars a barrel at our 10:14 GMT capture.
A second record close in Taipei and a fourth gain in Seoul
The record belonged to Taipei again. The Taiex added 357.12 points to 48,157.29, its second straight record close, on reduced turnover of 855.95 billion Taiwan dollars, per Taiwan’s Central News Agency. TSMC closed 40 Taiwan dollars higher at 2,500 and contributed around 317 of the index’s points by the agency’s count, taking its market value back to 64.83 trillion Taiwan dollars, and the session’s other mover was Taiwan Cement, up 4.48 percent after its board authorized a Dutch subsidiary to pursue the acquisition of full ownership of IFCEM, Ukraine’s second largest cement maker, and related companies at an enterprise value of up to 750 million euros; the cement group rose 2.84 percent while construction fell 2.41 percent. An analyst quoted by the agency noted the index failed to challenge Tuesday’s intraday record of 48,601.53 with the long holiday approaching and called it rangebound in the short term, and a separate agency report, citing MarketCapWatch data at 5pm Taipei time, put the market’s total value at around 5.3 trillion US dollars, overtaking India’s roughly 4.94 trillion for fourth place globally, behind the United States, China and Japan. Seoul’s advance was the board’s widest: the Kospi rose 0.90 percent to 7,080.92, per the network’s world markets blog, matching our feed exactly, a fourth straight gain and a third straight close above the 7,000 line on our boards, banked just before the holiday: the Korea Exchange’s calendar, read first hand, lists Thursday and Friday as Chuseok closures, making Monday 28 September the next Seoul session. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 “inched higher” to 8,765.30, per the network, and India’s Nifty 50 rose 0.50 percent to 23,446.80, confirmed first hand at the exchange’s own board. The Chinese boards went the other way: the Shanghai Composite lost 0.39 percent and the Shenzhen Component 0.64, and the Hang Seng’s 1.01 percent fall was the region’s deepest, with the network reporting the index down through the last hour of trade on Wednesday.
An offer on Hormuz and a barrel that holds near 100
The day’s macro story ran through the Strait of Hormuz. A senior Iranian official said Iran could reopen the strait within a week if the United States eases its pressure and lifts the blockade, with negotiations running through Qatari mediators, per the network’s reporting on Wednesday, and foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei set the conditions as a halt to what he called acts of aggression, an end to the naval blockade and economic warfare, and a release of assets. The other side of the ledger stayed loud: President Donald Trump, at the United Nations General Assembly, asked “Will a deal be made with Iran? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic, and do it quickly?” and pledged to “enforce the complete economic isolation of Iran”, per the network. The physical numbers frame the offer: Kpler counted 6.98 million barrels a day through the strait in the seven days to 20 September, around 38 percent of the 18.3 million that moved before the war, with Iran’s own crude loadings at zero this month against 893,000 barrels a day in July and Saudi Arabia shipping from its Gulf coast, per the network. Against that, the barrel barely moved: Brent traded 0.07 percent higher at 99.32 dollars at our capture, after the network’s blog reported the contract “erasing earlier losses seen overnight”, and WTI traded 0.78 percent lower at 89.81 on the November contract, its first session as front month after Tuesday’s October expiry, with the blog reporting Treasury yields lower in tandem with oil in the early hours. President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks at the General Assembly later on Wednesday, per the network.
Top gainers
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Kospi (South Korea) | 7,080.92 | +0.90% |
| Taiex (Taiwan) | 48,157.29 | +0.75% |
| Nifty 50 (India) | 23,446.80 | +0.50% |
| S&P/ASX 200 (Australia) | 8,765.30 | +0.09% |
Top gainers, closes of Wednesday 23 September 2026 from the vendor’s feed at our 10:14 GMT capture, confirmed by a second pull at 10:15 GMT identical, ranked by change; every change reconciles against our published 22 September closes, and the Nifty 50 close is confirmed first hand at the National Stock Exchange’s own board, 23,446.80, up 117.80 points, matching the feed exactly. Japan’s cash equity markets were closed for the third and final day of their holiday run, so the Nikkei 225 and Topix carry no session and return when Tokyo reopens on Thursday 24 September, per the exchange’s holiday calendar as recorded.
Top losers
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Straits Times (Singapore) | 5,709.91 | -0.24% |
| Shanghai Composite (China) | 3,936.52 | -0.39% |
| Shenzhen Component (China) | 13,636.07 | -0.64% |
| Hang Seng (Hong Kong) | 24,834.12 | -1.01% |
Top losers, same session, basis and 10:14 GMT capture as the gainers table, stacked shallowest to deepest; the Hang Seng’s fall matches the network’s report of the index down through the last hour of trade on Wednesday.
Commodities and currencies
| Instrument | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Gold, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | $4,355.50 | -0.48% |
| Silver, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | $65.83 | -1.05% |
| Brent Crude, ICE (Nov’26), dollars a barrel | $99.32 | +0.07% |
| WTI Crude, NYMEX (Nov’26), dollars a barrel | $89.81 | -0.78% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 100.849 | +0.25% |
| Euro/Dollar | 1.1411 | -0.31% |
| Sterling/Dollar | 1.3285 | -0.40% |
| Dollar/Yen | 157.81 | +0.28% |
Intraday quotes captured at 10:14 GMT on Wednesday 23 September 2026, one call, one stamp, fixed order; the gold, silver and Brent changes are measured against Tuesday’s settlements as carried in the price feed, settlement to snapshot, and the WTI row now tracks the November contract, which took the front month at Tuesday’s October expiry as disclosed in our commodities wrap, so its change is measured against November’s own Tuesday settlement as the feed carries it and its level does not compare with the October prints in our earlier wraps. The currency rows are on the vendor’s daily basis.
Why it matters: the handoff is the finding, on our reading: the region’s strongest board banked a fourth straight gain and goes dark until Monday, Tokyo returns Thursday with the Bank of Japan’s new rates taking effect that day, and Taipei’s record setter is, per the agency’s analyst, rangebound with its long holiday approaching, which leaves the last stretch of the week to thinner boards. Under it all the barrel refuses to break: an offer to reopen Hormuz, priced against a strait running at around 38 percent of its former flow on Kpler’s count, kept Brent pinned just under the 100 dollar line at our capture, on our reading.
Outlook: our Middle East wrap takes the Gulf next, with Riyadh closed on Wednesday for the Saudi National Day, and our Europe wrap follows a session the network’s blog reported opening higher, led by the technology and banking groups. Tokyo’s cash equities return on Thursday 24 September, the day the Bank of Japan’s new rates take effect, while Seoul stays shut Thursday and Friday for Chuseok, per the Korea Exchange’s calendar, and the summit between Trump and President Xi Jinping sits over the week, per the network’s blog. For Asia the open question is whether Tehran’s offer on the strait is taken up, rebuffed or priced before Thursday’s thinner session, with Pezeshkian’s General Assembly address later on Wednesday the next word.
Sources: Korea Exchange, Taiwan’s Central News Agency, National Stock Exchange of India, CNBC, The Edge.
