{"text":[[{"start":12.96,"text":"South Korea’s stock market soared on Friday as AI-related shares rebounded from days of heavy selling, while the won and yen drifted lower to give up some gains following official moves to support the currencies."}],[{"start":25.04,"text":"South Korea’s Kospi, which had tumbled 17 per cent over the previous three sessions on concerns about the durability of the AI boom, ended the day almost 18 per cent higher for a weekly drop of just 3 per cent."}],[{"start":38.156,"text":"The gains were driven by chipmakers SK Hynix, which soared by 30 per cent to end the week down just 5.3 per cent, while rival Samsung Electronics rose almost 27 per cent to be 2 per cent higher for the week."}],[{"start":38.656,"text":"Sentiment towards SK improved after the group’s chair Chey Tae-won bought about 3,600 shares for $3.2mn in his first direct investment in the world’s second-largest memory-chip maker."}],[{"start":66.689,"text":"His purchase was seen as a vote of confidence in the company’s long-term outlook after it reported a more than sixfold increase in second-quarter earnings on Wednesday."}],[{"start":76.585,"text":"Albert Yong, managing partner at Petra Capital Management, a Seoul-based hedge fund, said: “Microsoft’s earnings have helped ease concerns about huge AI spending, and investors seem to think the market’s recent sell-off has been overdone — but it remains to be seen whether this marks the beginning of a rebound in earnest.”"}],[{"start":95.52,"text":"Following an emergency meeting earlier this week to stem the market’s dramatic rout, the government said on Wednesday that it would further limit access to single-stock leveraged exchange traded funds."}],[{"start":107.415,"text":"Yong said those actions would help boost stability: “Amateur investors will find it hard to jump back into the products given the additional regulatory measures.”"}],[{"start":115.92,"text":"Japan’s Nikkei 225 index ended 4 per cent higher after rising as much as 5.4 per cent, with semiconductor and AI-related stocks leading the way, while the broader Topix was up 1.3 per cent."}],[{"start":129.653,"text":"After strengthening sharply on Thursday to as much as Won1,419 to the dollar, the Korean won weakened slightly on Friday after a government official said Seoul was “co-ordinating closely” with officials in the US and Japan on currencies."}],[{"start":146.624,"text":"Traders and analysts said the Japanese government had gone into the market, but officials in Tokyo declined to comment on whether they had acted."}],[{"start":155.2,"text":"“Based on the price action . . . I think Japan must have intervened overnight,” said Yujiro Goto, chief foreign exchange strategist at Nomura."}],[{"start":163.36,"text":"The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady on Thursday and ahead of Friday’s Bank of Japan monetary policy meeting. The central bank held interest rates at 1 per cent as the market had expected."}],[{"start":176.73,"text":"The yen had given up some of its gains by the time of the BoJ decision, weakening by 0.6 per cent but still holding at ¥160.40 compared with more than ¥163 before the apparent intervention."}],[{"start":191.308,"text":"The Japanese currency had strengthened as much as 3 per cent on Thursday after a surge in trading volumes and a dollar-yen rate check by the New York Federal Reserve on behalf of the US Treasury, according to people familiar with the matter."}],[{"start":204.527,"text":"A rate check is a form of soft intervention that can precede direct foreign-exchange purchases."}],[{"start":212.64,"text":"Atsushi Mimura, Japan’s vice-minister of finance for international affairs, said: “We understand that we are receiving support from the US authorities that goes beyond mere moral support. We have been in constant contact with them.”"}],[{"start":222.96,"text":"The apparent intervention in the yen was the first since a series of moves by the government in April and May that involved ¥11.7tn ($73bn) being spent to prop up the currency."}],[{"start":237.498,"text":"This time, due in part to apparent co-ordination with the US, analysts said the gains had a better chance of being maintained, at least in the short term."}],[{"start":245.84,"text":"Osamu Takashima, foreign exchange strategist at Citi in Tokyo, said it would be difficult for the yen “to recover to ¥164 again in the very near term” because it seemed the US was willing to help Japan defend its currency."}],[{"start":259.803,"text":"He added that since the market would be wary of further intervention, “dollar-yen upside is probably limited for now”."}],[{"start":266.968,"text":"However, one banker in Asia said that clients were already testing the government’s commitment, putting on yen short positions with targets around ¥162."}],[{"start":281.6,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1785485581_3223.mp3"}