Source: Wall Street News

Driven by a sharp rise in US technology stocks across the board, the Japanese and European stock markets surged higher, while the US semiconductor index continued to rise during the pre-market session on Monday.

European stock markets opened higher on Monday

On Friday, US chip stocks continued to rise strongly, taking the lead in supporting the rise of the US stock market. S&P refreshed the record high created two years ago, and the Dow continued to reach record highs.

The European stock market overtook US stocks on Monday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 1.5% last week and rebounded nearly 0.7% on Monday. The French CAC index rose more than 0.7%, and the Italian, German and British stock markets all opened higher.

In terms of individual stocks, Bernstein recently announced an ASML rating increase. The stock rose more than 2.2% on Monday, adding to the 1.2% increase in Eurozone technology stocks.

The game stock Kindred jumped 16.8%. Previously, the French game company La Francaise issued a takeover offer to acquire Kindred at a price of US$280 million, and La Francaise climbed nearly 5%.

On January 25, the ECB will announce its monetary policy decision to provide a clue as to when to cut interest rates.

US semiconductor stocks continued to rise before the market, and China generally fell

Before the US stock market on Monday, the three major indices rose collectively. Semiconductor stocks generally rose before the market. AMD rose 1.5%, Intel, Qualcomm, and Micron Technology rose more than 1%, and Nvidia rose nearly 1%. The data shows that after reaching a record high last week, Nvidia's call option ratio is still as high as 59%.

China Securities generally fell, with Xiaopeng Auto falling nearly 8%, Bilibili falling nearly 5%, and NIO and Ctrip falling more than 4%.

Media reports pointed out that the increase in profits of US tech giants during the earnings season was the main driving force behind the rise in the general market. The market currently expects the “Seven Sisters” to achieve 46% profit growth in the fourth quarter, down from 53% in the third quarter, but still significantly higher than other industries in the S&P 500 index. Technology stocks are expected to remain the main driver of the S&P 500's upward trend in January.

Japanese stocks are approaching an all-time high

Japanese stocks also surged on Monday, and the two major indices, the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Nikkei, both closed at 34-year highs.

Among them, the Nikkei Index rose 1.62% to 36546.95 points, the highest closing point since February 1990, which is less than 7% short of the all-time high of 38957.44 points set in December 1989.

The Eastern Stock Exchange Index rose 1.39% to 2544.92 points, the highest closing level since February 1990, and a 13% difference from the all-time high of 2886.5 points set in December 1989.

On the market, chip, real estate, and insurance stocks led the way. Investors expect the Bank of Japan to maintain an ultra-loose monetary policy. After the US semiconductor index surged last Friday, Japanese chip stocks also rose higher on Monday. Chip-related stocks such as Tokyo Electronics and Advantest once pushed the Nikkei Index up more than 600 points.

Investors are currently awaiting the results of the Bank of Japan's two-day policy meeting that ends tomorrow. The market generally anticipates that the Bank of Japan will stand still, measure the strength of wage growth, and study the impact of the earthquake on the Noto Peninsula on New Year's Day.

Editor/Corrine