[MARKET ANALYSIS] European bourses gain, with chip names supported by gains in Asia following South Korea's KRW 20tln AI injection

Newsquawk Staff · 31 Jul 2026, 09:00 UTC

European bourses start the final trading session of the week entirely in the green, with the STOXX 600 extending to a new ATH. The broad risk-on follows on from the gains seen in Asia, in which the KOSPI surged 18% (SK Hynix +30%, Samsung Electronics +27%), after the South Korean government announced plans to inject KRW 20tln into its sovereign wealth fund for strategic investments in AI, data centres and infrastructure.
Sectors are mixed. Basic Resources outperform, followed by Tech and Industrial Goods & Services. On the other hand, Media is the only sector printing outsized losses, following weakness in UMG (-22%) after subscription revenue growth slowed to 6.7% (prev. 7.9% Q/Q). Telecoms and Retail complete the sector laggards.
Key movers include: NatWest (+3.7%), raises its guidance and signals buybacks after strong Q2 earnings; Engie (+4.5%), H1 metrics beat estimates and raises its FY26 recurring net income guidance; Credit Agricole (+3.4%), reports better-than-expected Q2 figures; Leonardo (+3.3%), raises its FY26 order intake to c. 28.2bln (prev. guided c. 26.2bln); BP (+0.6%), begins marketing the sale of its North Sea business; Sainsbury (+3.5%), sells Argos to Swift Partners for at least GBP 120mln.
US equity futures trade higher, given the positive risk-on sentiment. Amazon rises over 12% pre-market after delivering strong earnings, in which it reported faster AWS growth. Additionally, the stronger-than-expected revenue reassured investors that heavier AI and data centre spending is being matched by accelerating cloud demand. On the other hand, Apple slipped over 7% pre-market after weak services, iPad and China sales, below-forecast revenue guidance and warnings of severe supply constraints outweighed the quarterly top- and bottom-line beat.

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Pakistan Army Chief Munir brought the "final warning" from the United States to Iranian officials, which called on Iran to submit to the US demands for concessions on the nuclear issue before taking any other steps.
The UK government has approved the Jackdaw North Sea gas field.

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