{"id":62215,"date":"2026-05-21T20:38:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/asia-pacific-markets-rally-as-softbank-surges-10-5-brent-crude-hits-104-amid-geopolitical-uncertainty\/62215\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T20:38:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:38:33","slug":"asia-pacific-markets-rally-as-softbank-surges-10-5-brent-crude-hits-104-amid-geopolitical-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/asia-pacific-markets-rally-as-softbank-surges-10-5-brent-crude-hits-104-amid-geopolitical-uncertainty\/62215\/","title":{"rendered":"Asia-Pacific Markets Rally as SoftBank Surges 10.5%; Brent Crude Hits $104 Amid Geopolitical Uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Nikkei 225 (<a href=\"\/stock\/N225\">N225<\/a>) gains 1.2%<\/strong> as SoftBank Group (<a href=\"\/stock\/9984\">9984<\/a>) shares jump <strong>10.5%<\/strong>, leading a broad rally in Asia-Pacific equities following a record close for the <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/dowjones\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Dow Jones Today\">Dow Jones<\/a> Industrial Average.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Japan\u2019s April Core CPI slowed to 1.4%<\/strong>, coming in below the <strong>1.7% forecast<\/strong>, though traders continue to price in a potential <strong>Bank of Japan rate hike in June<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Brent crude spiked above $104.90<\/strong> per barrel as conflicting headlines regarding <strong>U.S.-Iran ceasefire negotiations<\/strong> fueled market volatility and supply concerns.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Princeton Digital Group<\/strong> is reportedly exploring a sale of its <strong>Chinese data center assets<\/strong> in a deal that could raise up to <strong>$1 billion<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Argentina will cut its wheat export tax to 5.5%<\/strong> from 7.5%, a move by President Javier Milei aimed at boosting agricultural exports.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Market Overview and Japan\u2019s Tech Surge<\/h2>\n<p>Asia-Pacific equities traded higher in early Friday action, buoyed by a positive handover from Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a fresh record close. The regional optimism was spearheaded by Japanese markets, with the Nikkei 225 (<a href=\"\/stock\/N225\">N225<\/a>) advancing <strong>1.2%<\/strong> during the morning session.<\/p>\n<p>SoftBank Group (<a href=\"\/stock\/9984\">9984<\/a>) was the standout performer, with shares surging <strong>10.5%<\/strong> as investors reacted to broader tech optimism and the company&#39;s strategic positioning in AI-related infrastructure. In Australia, the ASX 200 (<a href=\"\/stock\/XJO\">XJO<\/a>) gained <strong>0.5%<\/strong> to reach <strong>8,667 points<\/strong>, while South Korea&#39;s KOSPI (<a href=\"\/stock\/KOSPI\">KOSPI<\/a>) also opened in positive territory.<\/p>\n<h2>Japan Inflation and Monetary Policy Outlook<\/h2>\n<p>New economic data showed Japan\u2019s National CPI for April rose <strong>1.4% year-on-year<\/strong>, missing the <strong>1.6% estimate<\/strong> and falling from the previous <strong>1.5% reading<\/strong>. Core CPI (excluding fresh food) also came in softer than expected at <strong>1.4%<\/strong>, while the &quot;core-core&quot; index (excluding fresh food and energy) slowed to <strong>1.9%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the cooling inflation data, market participants still see room for a <strong>Bank of Japan rate hike as early as June<\/strong>, following recent hawkish commentary from central bank officials. Meanwhile, the upcoming <strong>40-year Japanese Government Bond (JGB) auction<\/strong> is expected to offer yields above <strong>4%<\/strong>, approximately <strong>80 basis points higher<\/strong> than the March auction, reflecting shifting expectations in the fixed-income market.<\/p>\n<h2>Energy and Commodities Volatility<\/h2>\n<p>In the commodities sector, <strong>Brent crude jumped more than $2 to $104.90 a barrel<\/strong> amid rising uncertainty over potential U.S.-Iran negotiations. While some reports suggested that a U.S. proposal had &quot;narrowed the gaps,&quot; these were offset by renewed concerns over Iran\u2019s uranium policy and potential tolls in the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>, keeping geopolitical risk premiums high.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/metal\/gold\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"gold price today\">Gold<\/a> traded in a tight range near <strong>$4,540 an ounce<\/strong> as the mixed geopolitical signals left investors uncertain about the long-term outlook for inflation and global interest rates. Strategists at TD Securities warned that commodity trading advisers could slash gold positions if prices break toward <strong>$4,350<\/strong>, noting that bullion remains down nearly <strong>14%<\/strong> since the conflict began in late February.<\/p>\n<h2>Corporate and Regional Developments<\/h2>\n<p>In corporate news, the Financial Times reported that <strong>Princeton Digital Group (PDG)<\/strong> is preparing to sell its China-based assets. The deal, which could raise as much as <strong>$1 billion<\/strong>, comes as the Warburg Pincus-backed firm looks to optimize its regional portfolio amid shifting digital infrastructure demand.<\/p>\n<p>In South America, President Javier Milei announced that <strong>Argentina will reduce its wheat export tax to 5.5%<\/strong> from the current <strong>7.5%<\/strong>. This fiscal adjustment is intended to improve the competitiveness of Argentine grain on the global stage as the country seeks to stabilize its economy and increase foreign currency inflows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Nikkei 225 (N225) gains 1.2% as SoftBank Group (9984) shares jump 10.5%, leading a broad rally in Asia-Pacific [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[18923,1684,18924,4462,5112,5139,5945,10512,17757,18921,18922],"class_list":["post-62215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-9984-stock-9984","tag-gold","tag-pdg","tag-brent-crude","tag-jgb","tag-nikkei-225","tag-japan-cpi","tag-softbank-group","tag-n225-stock-n225","tag-princeton-digital-group","tag-argentina-wheat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}