[MARKET ANALYSIS] Asia-Pac stocks are mixed but with most major indices positive after NVIDIA's earnings beat and strong fiscal 2028 revenue growth outlook

APAC Stocks: Mixed

Asia-Pac stocks are ultimately mixed, but with most indices in the green, after the flat performance stateside, where markets digested the firmer-than-expected headline PCE data and braced for NVIDIA earnings. The AI darling beat on top and bottom lines, although its shares were initially subdued, but were then boosted during the earnings call as the CFO flagged about a 70% revenue growth for the next fiscal year.

ASX 200: -0.8%

Underperforms amid another barrage of earnings releases and recent inflation data, which has prompted a call by NAB for the RBA to resume hiking rates at the next meeting in September.

Nikkei 225: +0.2%

Swung between gains and losses with the index fading the initial NVIDIA-spurred euphoria.

KOSPI +2.0%

Leads the advances in the region as chipmakers cheer NVIDIA's strong results and outlook, while investors are also unfazed by the BoK's pre-emptive back-to-back rate hike.

Hang Seng & Shanghai Comp: Hang Seng -0.4% / Shanghai Comp +0.6%

Chinese markets are mixed amid several earnings releases and slower Industrial Profits, although the mainland is kept afloat after the PBoC conducted both 7-day and overnight reverse repo operations.

US Equity Futures: Positive

Climbed higher with the Emini Nasdaq 100 front-running the gains following NVIDIA's results and earnings call.

European Equity Futures +0.4%

Indicate a higher cash market open with Euro Stoxx 50 futures up 0.4% after the cash market closed with gains of 0.2% on Wednesday.

Single-stock read-throughs of this size into Asian semis follow a well-worn pattern: the initial reaction in the supplier-heavy indices (KOSPI, Taiwan, Nikkei) is a beta trade on the headline beat, and the more durable signal comes from guidance commentary during the call, which is where this move originated. The distinction worth drawing is between the direct supply-chain beneficiaries, memory and foundry names, and the broader index, which in past episodes of this kind has tended to fade the opening euphoria as the session matures, much as the Nikkei did here. The regional divergence is otherwise domestically driven rather than NVIDIA-driven: Australian underperformance tracks the local inflation surprise and the repricing of RBA risk, where bank calls for a resumed hiking cycle have historically front-run but not always anticipated the board, while the KOSPI's ability to shrug off a back-to-back central bank hike reflects how little tightening matters to chip names when the AI capex cycle is the dominant earnings driver. China remains the outlier, with liquidity operations cushioning weak industrial profits in a pattern that has recurred through soft patches. The follow-ons are the US cash open's confirmation of the futures move, any sell-side estimate revisions on the forward revenue guidance, and whether the RBA repricing gains traction into the next meeting.