Asia stocks rise as tech gains offset rate uncertainty; ASX, KOSPI hit record high in Stock News 19/02/2026 Asian stocks advanced on Thursday, buoyed chiefly by strong gains in technology stocks helped markets rise past heightened uncertainty over U.S. interest rates. Australian stocks hit a record high on strength in local mining and bank stocks, while South Korean markets rallied to new peaks on gains in chipmakers– particularly Samsung. Chinese and Hong Kong markets remained shut for the Lunar New Year holiday. Find out Asia’s favorite stocks for 2026 by upgrading to InvestingPro Regional markets largely tracked overnight advances on Wall Street, as investors mostly looked past hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve and sought bargains in tech. S&P 500 Futures were flat by 21:56 ET (02:56 GMT). South Korea rallies to record high on tech gains South Korea’s KOSPI index was the best performer in Asia, surging nearly 3% to a record high of 5,673.11 points. The KOSPI was boosted chiefly by gains in tech stocks, with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) rallying over 4% to a record high following local media reports that the company planned to raise the prices of its advanced memory chips, amid outsized demand from the artificial intelligence industry. Samsung extended recent gains after the company said earlier this month that it had begun mass production of HBM4 chips– a key component of AI processors. Samsung and peer SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660)– two of the world’s largest memory chip makers– have emerged as clear winners of the AI trade, hitting a series of new valuation peaks as growing demands for AI infrastructure saw the companies clock huge sales. A looming shortage of memory chips also allowed both firms to ramp up their selling prices in recent quarters– a trend that is broadly expected to continue in the coming months. Gains in tech saw South Korean markets largely firm past mildly weaker-than-expected trade data for January, although exports still surged nearly 34% on overseas chip demand. Australia’s ASX 200 hits record high; soft jobs data dents rate hike bets Australia’s ASX 200 jumped over 1% to a record high of 9,118.30 points, boosted by gains in heavyweight mining and bank stocks. Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO), the second-largest miner on the ASX, rose over 2% after it said it had increased its investment in a Canadian lithium venture. Australia’s “big four” banks– ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:ANZ), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC), Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA), and National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB)– rose between 1.3% and 3%. Mixed labor data also lent some support to stocks, as a softer-than-expected increase in employment in January drove hopes that the Reserve Bank will have less impetus to raise interest rates in the coming months. But the job market still remained robust, with the unemployment rate reading steady at 4.1%. Broader Asian markets were largely positive, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index up 0.9% on tech, while a drop in the yen also benefited export-oriented sectors. The TOPIX index rose 1%. Singapore’s Straits Times index rose 1%, while futures for India’s Nifty 50 index rose 0.3%, with local tech names expected to see some bargain buying after recent declines. Source: Investing.com 2026-02-19 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d