Stocks in Asia Pacific rose on Monday, with investors watching shares of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group following an announcement of its sale of U.K. chip designer Arm.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 152.81 points, or 0.7%, to 23,559.40.
Shares of Japan’s SoftBank Group soared 9% on Monday following an announcement that the firm is set to sell U.K. chip designer Arm to U.S. chip firm Nvidia.
Nvidia has agreed to buy Arm Holdings, a designer of chips for mobile phones, from SoftBank in a deal worth $40 billion U.S., the companies announced Sunday. The deal will be for a mix of $21.5 billion in Nvidia stock and $12 billion in cash, including $2 billion payable at signing.
Meanwhile, developments in Japanese politics were also watched as the successor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was announced Monday afternoon.
Yoshihide Suga is set to become Japan’s next prime minister after winning a ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership election on Monday, according to Reuters. The vote came after Abe announced his resignation in late August over health concerns.
Following that announcement, the Japanese yen traded at 106 against the greenback, following an earlier low of 106.19 per dollar.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng added 136.97 points, or 0.6%, to 24,640.28.
Shares of major chip firms regionally also saw a jump following the announcement. SK Hynix shares in South Korea rose 2% while Samsung Electronics advanced 2.4%. Over in Taiwan, shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company also added 1%.
Australian markets registered gains, though shares of Macquarie Group dropped more than 4% after the firm announced Monday it anticipated a 35% plunge in its first-half earnings.
The Australian dollar was at $0.7281 after rising from levels below $0.725 last week.
In other markets
The CSI 300 advanced 23.77 points, or 0.5%, to 4,651.05.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index dropped 7.54 points, or 0.3%, to 2.482.55.
In Korea, the Kospi grasped 31.22 points, or 1.3%, to 2,427.91.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index rose 111.87 points, or 0.9%, to 12,787.82.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 regrouped 42.51 points, or 0.4%, to 11,790.54.
In Australia, the ASX 200 regained 40.1 points, or 0.7%, to 5,899.52
