The font entrance of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024.
Noriko Hayashi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are set to mostly climb on Thursday, after former President Donald Trump won the White House, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
NBC News projects that Trump will win at least 291 Electoral College votes, including key swing states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.
Stocks surged in the U.S. after Trump’s win, and the same phenomenon is set to repeat itself in Asia.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is set to retake the 40,000 mark for the first time in about a month. If the index holds on these gains, it will be the first time since July 19 that the Nikkei has closed above that level.
The futures contract in Chicago stood at 40,110 and its counterpart in Osaka was at 40,030 against the index’s last close of 39,480.67.
The yen weakened to a intraday high of 154.7 against the dollar on Wednesday, its weakest level since July 30.
In contrast, futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 20,520, pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI’s close of 20,538.38.
Hong Kong and mainland Chinese stocks mainly fell Wednesday as Trump’s victory looked increasingly certain.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started the day 0.21% up.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major benchmarks hit record highs following Trump’s victory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,508.05 points, or 3.57%, to a record close of 43,729.93. The last time the index saw a gain of more than 1,000 points in a single day was in November 2022.
The S&P 500 also hit an all-time high, popping 2.53% to 5,929.04. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.95% to a record 18,983.47.
— CNBC’s Yun Li and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.
