Japan, South Korea stocks hit more records, as oil gains on Iran war ending fragility

A currency trader talks on the phone at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, June 1, 2026.

Japan, South Korea stocks hit more records, as oil gains on Iran war ending fragility

HONG KONG — Tokyo and Seoul stock markets hit new record highs Monday on anticipation surrounding the artificial intelligence growth and as investors wait to see if a ceasefire in the fighting between Israel and Hamas would be extended.

Oil rose more than 2% as U.S.-Iran talks proceeded, including discussions on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global oil and natural gas flows.

U.S. futures were up.

Asian markets mainly rose, with Japan and South Korea indexes touching record intraday highs, powered by tech firms, as investors continued to bet on growth from AI and other innovative technologies.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose more than 1.3 percent to finish at 67,231.28, topping the 67,000 mark for the first time. Shares of SoftBank Group, the investment firm that’s largely focused on AI, jumped more than 9%. It set records last week.

South Korea's Kospi index shot up over 5% to a record high of 8,874.16. Its largest company, Samsung Electronics, climbed more than 9%. South Korea’s exports jumped 53% in May from a year earlier, driven by worldwide demand for semiconductors, official statistics showed on Monday.

The Nikkei 225 was up more than 12% last month, while the Kospi surged more than 27% over the same period.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.9 percent at 25,408.96. The Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.1% to 4,063.72, following China’s announcement over the weekend that factory activity in May eased amid signs of sluggish fresh export demand.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1% to 8,720.30.

Taiwan’s Taiex added 1.4% while India’s Sensex increased 0.6%.

Three months into the Iran war, market swings and oil prices continue to be driven by concerns over a permanent end to the war even as confidence on sustained AI demand and strong corporate profits have powered a stock market rise particularly on Wall Street.

Iran said no deal was reached, and U.S. President Donald Trump had not yet settled on a tentative plan to prolong the Iran war ceasefire by 60 days in high-level meetings with advisers on Friday. The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remained in limbo as well. The strait has been largely closed and the U.S. has blockaded Iranian ports by sea.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, climbed 2.4% to $93.33 a barrel early on Monday. Late February, before the war started, it was about $70 a barrel.

U.S. benchmark crude climbed 2.8% to $89.76 a barrel.

Wall Street stocks notched further milestones on Friday, pushed by major tech stocks, with the benchmark S&P 500 up 0.2% to 7,580.06 in a seventh straight increase.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to 51,032.46. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 0.2% to 26,972.62.

Dell Technologies shares jumped 32.8% after the company boosted its outlook on the back of strong AI-related demand and better-than-expected performance. Microsoft gained more than 5.4% and Broadcom was up 4.7%.

The dollar edged up to 159.48 Japanese yen from 159.25 yen in earlier trading. The euro was trading at $1.1645, down from $1.1667.