South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Topix hit record highs as investors shrug off Iran tensions
Asia-Pacific markets rose as investors shrugged off renewed Iran tensions against ceasefire optimism.
KickT
A screen displays share prices inside the Kabuto One building in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, April 13, 2026. Oil surged and stocks fell after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, escalating tensions with Iran following the collapse of weekend peace talks. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets rose on Friday, with South Korea's Kospi hitting a fresh intraday record and Japan's Topix reaching a new all-time high, as investors looked past renewed military activity involving Iran and focused on gains in technology shares and record closes on Wall Street.
South Korea's Kospi jumped more than 3%, hitting a new intra-day high before paring gains slightly. The small-cap Kosdaq was down 3.17%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 2.49%, while the Topix rose 1.86% a new record high.
Shares of Samsung Electronics surged as much as 6.51% after the company said it had begun shipping samples of its latest high-bandwidth memory chip to its customers globally.
India's Nifty 50 traded near the flatline. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.72%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 1.1%, while the CSI 300 was unchanged.
Iran's armed forces reportedly fired missiles at unspecified targets late Thursday, according to state media outlet Fars.
The latest military activity in southern Iran came just hours after the Pentagon said Tehran had fired a ballistic missile toward Kuwait and deployed attack drones in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier on Thursday, a White House official confirmed an Axios report saying the U.S. and Iran had "mostly agreed" on the terms of a deal aimed at temporarily halting the three-month conflict.
