Asian Markets Open Higher as Investors Await Key Developments

Asian stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region rose on Friday (29 May 2026) amid investor focus on the latest developments in the Iran-US conflict, according to CNBC Indonesia. CNBC reports that market participants are also factoring in signals that Washington and Tehran are nearing a temporary agreement to halt the three-month-long conflict. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.88%, while the Topix gained 0.53% in morning trade. In South Korea, the Kospi surged 2.68% and the small-cap Kosdaq index rose 0.25%. Australian equities also traded in positive territory, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.72%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng futures stood at 24,995, slightly below Thursday’s close of 25,006.16. Iran’s military reportedly fired missiles at unspecified targets on Thursday evening local time, according to state-run Iranian media Fars, amid increased military activity in southern Iran. This development came hours after the Pentagon stated that Tehran had launched ballistic missiles towards Kuwait and deployed attack drones around the Strait of Hormuz. Regional tensions had previously raised concerns about global energy supply disruptions. However, market sentiment improved slightly after a White House official confirmed Axios reports that the US and Iran had ‘largely agreed’ on terms for a temporary ceasefire. Hopes of de-escalation prompted investors to return to riskier assets. In the US, stock futures edged flat after the three major indices closed at record highs on Thursday. US market gains were primarily driven by a tech stock rally, fuelled by optimism around artificial intelligence (AI) developments. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were flat, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 7 points, or less than 0.1%. In regular trading, the S&P 500 climbed 0.58% to 7,563.63 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.91% to 26,917.47, both hitting intraday record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose 0.05% to 50,668.97. The tech rally followed cloud computing firm Snowflake’s strong second-quarter fiscal outlook, reigniting market optimism for the AI sector. Snowflake shares surged 36.5%, marking the company’s best single-day gain in history, after reporting better-than-expected earnings and announcing a $6 billion five-year plan to spend on Amazon Web Services.