STOCKS | Emerging Market Stocks Hit Two-Month High as Tech Gains Offset Higher Oil Prices

Emerging market stocks rose at the start of the week, with heavyweight technology shares lifted by optimism around a new artificial intelligence model offsetting the drag from higher oil prices. According to Sina Finance, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index climbed as much as 1.4% on Monday, its highest since June 26, while South Korea's benchmark index jumped more than 3%. The emerging market currency index rose 0.1% and has gained in 12 of the past 13 trading days. Technology was the best-performing sector in the index, following Friday's rally in U.S. chip stocks. OpenAI announced a new-generation technology, GPT-6, on Friday and described it as a key milestone toward artificial general intelligence. Oil prices rose after attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz involving the United States and Iran, while strong U.S. jobs data fueled bets that the Federal Reserve may soon raise interest rates, leaving most other sector indexes lower. Wee Khoon Chong, senior Asia-Pacific market strategist at Bank of New York Mellon in Hong Kong, said technology shares outweighed the negative impact of higher crude prices.