Asia shares climb on tech rebound as Iran risks, Fed stance linger

By Rae Wee

SINGAPORE, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Asian stocks rose on Thursday, supported by gains in technology giants on Wall Street, while lingering U.S.-Iran tensions kept oil prices supported and left gold underpinned by safe-haven flows.

In currencies, the dollar firmed after minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting showed policymakers were in no rush to cut rates.

Trading was thinned in Asia with markets in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, but MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.5% and Japan's Nikkei gained 0.85%, led by technology shares.

South Korea's Kospi jumped about 3% to a record high.

That followed a rise in shares of tech heavyweights on Wall Street, following news from Nvidia on Tuesday that it signed a multiyear deal to sell Meta Platforms millions of its current and future artificial intelligence chips.

"We needed some good news. I think there has been a general feeling of malaise in the tech sector," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG, referring to the steep selloff earlier this month.

"Nvidia has been very much the front and centre of the rally which we saw up into the end of 2025, and potentially it's now coming to the rescue a little bit... some badly needed good news there that can potentially set tech stocks for a better run into Nvidia's earnings next week."

Nasdaq futures added 0.05% while S&P 500 futures edged 0.03% higher. EUROSTOXX 50 futures were meanwhile down 0.15%.

Geopolitics also continued to loom large in markets.

Oil prices held gains after surging in the previous session, as investors priced in potential supply disruptions on concerns of a conflict between the U.S. and Iran.

Brent crude futures were down slightly at $70.31 a barrel after jumping 4.35% in the previous session, while U.S. crude was last at $65.10, holding on to most of Wednesday's 4.6% gain.

"There's been a very intensive buildup of military assets over the past 24 hours ... but I think this is all part of this diplomatic cat and mouse, and I don't think we're going to see an imminent attack. I think this is just designed to put more pressure on Iran to come back with more reasonable objectives from these talks," said Sycamore.

Still, gold continued to find bids and steadied at $4,963.99 an ounce. [GOL/]

FED OUTLOOK

The dollar held to gains on Thursday in the wake of better-than-expected U.S. economic data and as minutes of the Fed's January policy meeting revealed several policymakers were open to rate hikes if inflation remains elevated.

Against the dollar, sterling fell close to a one-month low of $1.3488, while the yen languished near the 155 per dollar level and was last at 154.80.

"From our perspective, the (Fed) minutes support our view that rate cuts are off the table for the foreseeable future," said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management.

"While some market participants are looking at inflation in the rear view mirror, the Fed is still signaling the safety warning that 'objects in the mirror are closer than they appear'. Policymakers specifically noted disinflation could be on a slower path."

Elsewhere, the euro struggled below $1.18 and last bought $1.1791, pressured by news that European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde plans to leave her job early.

The New Zealand dollar was up 0.11% at $0.5972, having tumbled 1.4% in the previous session after the country's central bank tempered market expectations for a hawkish pivot at its policy meeting.

(Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Kim Coghill)