Tech stocks soar pushing regional bourses higher

Technology firms surged in Asia on Wednesday after blockbuster earnings from chip giant SK hynix helped boost optimism in the AI trade ahead of results from Wall Street titans Microsoft and Alphabet. Oil prices rose as investors kept tabs on Israel's election results, which could determine the future of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war against Iran. In Hong Kong, the stock market ended higher, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index up 0.23 percent to close at 23,094 points. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index gained 0.32 percent to 7,791 points, and the Hang Seng Tech Index jumped 1.40 percent to 3,853 points. On the mainland, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finished up 0.91 percent to 3,681 points while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 2.02 percent higher. Turnover of stocks covered by these two indices totalled about 1.63 trillion yuan, up from 1.46 trillion yuan on the previous trading day. Shares in robotics, semiconductor chips and AI-generated animated dramas were among the top gainers, while stocks in the pork and insurance sectors fell against the broader upward trend. The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, gained 3.4 percent. The STAR Composite Index, which reflects the performance of stocks on China's sci-tech innovation board, closed 3.2...