Samsung, SoftBank Gain Over 8% to Hit New Highs. Nikkei Index First Breaks 67,000, Korean KOSPI Surpasses 8,700

TradingKey - In early Asian trading on June 1, Samsung Electronics surged over 8% to hit a record high of 344,000 won. South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index broke through 8,700 points, reaching a peak of 8,792.86 points with a gain of nearly 4%. The Nikkei index surpassed 67,000 points for the first time, setting a new high.

The rally was primarily driven by the performance of U.S. stocks in the previous trading session. On Friday, May 29, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both hit new record highs as market expectations grew for an agreement between the U.S. and Iran.

In the Japanese market, capital continued to flow into AI and semiconductor-related sectors; SoftBank Group's share price touched a high of 8,158 yen, rising more than 8%, with its intraday market capitalization surpassing that of Toyota Motor. On the news front, SoftBank announced it will invest $52 billion to build a data center network in France, which would be Europe's largest AI infrastructure project to date.

Analysts pointed out that although the U.S.-Iran ceasefire negotiations have seen many twists and turns and the situation remains unclear, AI trading is providing support to the market. In early Asian trading, futures for major U.S. stock indices were all trading higher.