ASIA MIDDAY MOVES | Tech Leads Asia Higher at Midday as MediaTek Jumps 8%, KOSPI Adds 1.8% Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit

According to Yonhap, HKET and UDN Money, Asian equities traded broadly higher around midday Monday, led by chip and tech heavyweights, as easing oil prices and anticipation of a Trump-Xi summit lifted risk sentiment. Seoul's KOSPI advanced 122.19 points, or 1.77%, to 7,016.42 as of 12:32 Beijing time, driven by tech names. Samsung Electronics rose 4.98% and SK Hynix added 0.97%. South Korea's exports jumped 78% in the first 20 days of September from a year earlier, customs data showed, on strong semiconductor shipments. Hong Kong stocks closed the morning session higher, with the Hang Seng Index up 138 points at 24,889, though the Hang Seng Tech Index eased 0.13%; pharmaceutical and innovative-drug names led gains. Xiaomi rose nearly 4%, while Alibaba and Tencent each added more than 1%; Lenovo bucked the trend, falling more than 5%. Taiwan's TAIEX rose 542.26 points, or 1.15%, to 47,723.01 as of 12:32 Beijing time, with MediaTek surging 8.15% and TSMC edging up 0.61%. Morgan Stanley named 23 Taiwan AI-chip stocks, including TSMC and MediaTek. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite ended the morning up 0.55% at 3,933.37, the Shenzhen Component gained 0.57% at 13,718.23 and the ChiNext Index rose 0.93% at 3,403.97, as pharmaceutical and innovative-drug shares led with a wave of daily limit-ups.