Business and finance news from the Asia-Pacific.

Chip stocks posted their best quarter ever, extending an extraordinary start to the year driven by insatiable demand for artificial intelligence equipment. But after recent jitters sent the stocks tumbling, investors are wondering how much further the rally can go. "The story of the past six months is the market going all-in on AI infrastructure, but now people are asking if this is sustainable and if we should be worried," said CJ Muse, senior managing director and technology analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index jumped 3.9% on Tuesday to bring its second-quarter gain to 88%, its best quarter ever. It soared 101% in the first half, putting it on track for its best year in its history. In contrast, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index climbed 28% in the second quarter, while the S&P 500 Index rose 15%. It was both of their best quarters since 2020, but the performances were dwarfed by the surge in chip stocks. We speak to Lianting Tu, Bloomberg's Managing Editor for Asia Equities.

Plus - The yen traded around 162.65 per dollar after falling to a 40-year low this week. The currency's slide to a four-decade low against the dollar left traders eyeing Japan's next intervention threshold. After the currency weakened past the 162 per dollar level on Tuesday, strategists increasingly pointed to 163 and beyond, arguing the Finance Ministry may tolerate a weaker yen than it did in 2024. Bloomberg TV hosts Yvonne Man and Avril Hong spoke to Christopher Wong, Executive Director and FX Strategist at OCBC.

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Business and finance news from the Asia-Pacific.

The yen slid to its weakest level against the dollar since 1986, a milestone that will generate unease in Japan and put traders on high alert for authorities wading into the market. The currency depreciated 0.2% to touch 161.98 versus the greenback in New York trading overnight, breaching the 161.95 mark touched in July 2024 during an earlier campaign by Japan to shore up the exchange rate. The last time the yen traded at this level it was barreling in the opposite direction, midway through a massive and years-long rally that followed a currency accord engineered by the US. The world was a different place — Japan's asset bubble was still forming, the Soviet Union was cleaning up after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and Top Gun had just launched Tom Cruise toward the pinnacle of Hollywood stardom. We speak to David Finnerty, Bloomberg's FX and Rates Strategist.

Plus - China's factory activity improved more than expected in June, as booming exports offset cooling growth in the domestic economy.The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index climbed to 50.3, versus 50 in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 50.1. The non-manufacturing measure of activity in construction and services unexpectedly rose to 50.2 from 50.1 last month. Bloomberg's Yvonne Man and Avril Hong spoke to Helen Qiao, Chief Economist for Greater China at Bank of America Global Research.

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Business and finance news from the Asia-Pacific.

An artificial-intelligence bust, inflation and fiscal stress are among the most alarming threats to global prosperity at present, the Bank for International Settlements warned. In its annual report published on Sunday, the Basel-based institution cited those on a list of "pressure points" that currently "demand attention," with underlying financial vulnerabilities lurking that could amplify any shock. We speak to Oliver Shale, Investment Specialist at Ruffer.

Plus - South Korea's Samsung Group and SK Group are poised to announce as much as 2,000 trillion won ($1.3 trillion) of investments over the next decade as part of President Lee Jae Myung's flagship industrial strategy, the Korea Economic Daily reported. The two groups are expected to unveil the package when their leaders present the plans at the presidential office on Monday, the newspaper said, without giving details of where it obtained the information. Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. are each expected to build four to five semiconductor fabs in the Gwangju area, in the country's southwest, the newspaper said. Samsung is also expected to build chip packaging plants in South Chungcheong province while SK Hynix will expand NAND plants in North Chungcheong province, the newspaper added. Bloomberg TV hosts Shery Ahn and Paul Allen speak to Shaun Cochran, CITIC CLSA Head of Research.

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