Finance Morning: Nvidia Beats, BOK Hikes 25bp (Aug 27, 2026)

📊 Today's Asian Markets

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1. Nvidia rebuts "circular financing" concerns, forecasts 70% sales growth next year

Source: Sina Finance

Nvidia delivered a striking earnings report after Wednesday's (Aug 26) close: revenue for the quarter ended July reached $96.2 billion, up 106% year-over-year, including data center revenue of $89 billion, up 117%. The company guided current-quarter sales to about $108 billion, above Wall Street expectations, and the stock rose more than 4% in after-hours trading.

The more closely watched story was the company's direct response to "circular financing" criticism. CFO Colette Kress said Nvidia expects the strong growth to continue, with sales set to rise 70% next year. She acknowledged that some observers label the company's investments and financing support for customers as "circular financing," but insisted such spending would deliver "very substantial returns" with "limited" risk. Nvidia has agreed to partially guarantee a Wall Street consortium that will provide $500 billion in chip financing to its customers, and to backstop OpenAI's Ohio data center project with more than $100 billion.

Visible Alpha research director Melissa Otto said the 70% growth forecast "significantly exceeded market expectations," compared with a prior consensus of about 45%. The company also flagged that memory chip shortages could push its gross margin from the current 75% to as low as 71% early next year. CEO Jensen Huang stressed that beyond OpenAI, a growing number of companies are driving AI infrastructure demand: "We are entering a golden era of new AI labs and startups."

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2. Commerce Ministry responds to U.S. consideration of extra 7.5% tariffs on China

Source: Eastmoney

China's Ministry of Commerce held a regular press conference on Aug 27. Responding to reports that the U.S. government is considering additional 7.5% tariffs on Chinese imports, spokesperson Huang Ling said the U.S. has launched a Section 301 investigation into 16 economies including China on the grounds of "overcapacity," politicizing trade issues in a typical act of unilateralism and protectionism, which China firmly opposes. She said China will continue to closely monitor and fully assess the U.S.'s follow-up moves and reserves the right to take all necessary measures.

The same briefing also disclosed several economic figures. National Bureau of Statistics data showed profits of large industrial enterprises rose 17.6% year-over-year to 4.58206 trillion yuan in the January-July period, with state-controlled enterprises up 16.3% and private enterprises up 10.9%. In addition, China's economic development new-driver index for 2025 stood at 153.0, up 12.5% from the previous year.

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3. SMIC interim report: net profit up 94.2% year-over-year

Source: Sina Finance

SMIC released its 2026 half-year report on Aug 27, reporting revenue of 38.635 billion yuan, up 19.4% year-over-year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 4.467 billion yuan, up 94.2%. The company said the growth was mainly driven by increased wafer sales volume, higher average selling prices, and a shift in product mix.

By quarter, first-quarter net profit was 1.361 billion yuan, implying second-quarter net profit of 3.106 billion yuan, up 128% quarter-over-quarter.

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4. Jack Ma, Joe Tsai and Eddie Wu buy over HK$800 million of Alibaba shares

Source: Sina Finance

Even as Jack Ma, Joe Tsai and Eddie Wu continued to increase their holdings, Alibaba's stock fell again on Aug 27, closing at HK$115.5 in Hong Kong, down 0.94%.

Earlier, Alibaba's quarterly results released on Aug 20 showed a sharp profit decline — operating profit fell 57% and net profit attributable to shareholders fell about 76% year-over-year — while capital expenditure surged 75% to 67.678 billion yuan, mainly for AI computing power. To fund its AI push, the company announced on Aug 23 a placement of 710 million shares raising HK$80 billion, the largest follow-on placement in Hong Kong exchange history; the stock plunged more than 8% on Aug 24.

In response to the panic sparked by the placement, Alibaba's core management stepped in to buy shares. Exchange filings showed chairman Joe Tsai bought about HK$160 million across Aug 24 and 25, while CEO Eddie Wu bought about HK$40 million; according to sources, Jack Ma's accumulated purchases topped HK$600 million. The three together have added more than HK$800 million in recent days, widely seen as a signal of confidence from management.

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5. Southbound capital focuses on AI stocks via Stock Connect

Source: Sina Finance

Southbound capital via the Stock Connect focused on artificial intelligence names on Aug 27. Zhipu (02513), Yangtze Optical Fibre (06869) and MINIMAX-W (00100) topped Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect turnover, at 4.279 billion yuan, 3.770 billion yuan and 2.198 billion yuan respectively.

On the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, Zhipu, Yangtze Optical Fibre and Tencent (00700) led turnover at 1.627 billion yuan, 1.577 billion yuan and 1.424 billion yuan respectively.

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6. Nikkei slips 0.2% as AI rally fizzles

Source: Kyodo News

Tokyo's Nikkei index eased on Aug 27, closing down 130.18 points at 66,131.98, a decline of 0.20%, as selling emerged in high-priced AI-related shares and weighed on the market.

Buoyed by strong earnings from U.S. chip giant Nvidia, the Nikkei climbed nearly 700 points in early trading before retreating as "buy the rumor, sell the news" sentiment took hold, ending below the previous day's close. The broader TOPIX rose 6.20 points to 4,117.22, up 0.15%.

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7. Bank of Korea raises rates by 25 basis points to 3.0%

Source: ifeng

The Bank of Korea raised its benchmark rate by 25 basis points on Aug 27, lifting it from 2.75% to 3.0% — the second consecutive hike, in line with market expectations. The central bank also upgraded its growth forecast, projecting 2026 GDP growth of 3.3% versus a prior 2.6%, and kept its 2026 CPI inflation forecast at 2.7%, unchanged from May.

After the decision, the Korean stock market's gains narrowed markedly. At the time of writing, the KOSPI's gain had narrowed to 1.06%, after rising more than 2.76% earlier in the session. Among constituents, SK Hynix's advance narrowed to 1.24%, having earlier surged more than 5.9%.

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8. Chip stocks rally, Hygon leads with 6.11% gain

Source: Sina Finance

China's A-share market opened higher on Aug 27, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.11% intraday, as telecom, electronics and building materials led gains. Chip stocks strengthened broadly — by 9:56 a.m., the Guozheng Chip Index was up 1.89%, with Hygon Information up 6.11%, Montage Technology up 3.79%, Demingli up 3.69%, Yuanjie Technology up 3.51% and GigaDevice up 3.13%.

At the industry level, SEMI expects global semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales to reach a record $165.9 billion in 2026, up 23.2% year-over-year, with continued growth forecast for the next three years. CITIC Securities believes pricing power across the semiconductor supply chain is structurally shifting from chip end-products toward equipment and components.

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9. Great Wall Motor revenue tops 100 billion yuan for first time, but profit drops over 60%

Source: Dazhong News

Great Wall Motor's interim report released on Aug 27 showed a "rising revenue, falling profit" picture. In the first half of 2026, the company reported total operating revenue of 102.101 billion yuan, up 10.58% year-over-year — the first time half-year revenue exceeded 100 billion yuan — with vehicle sales revenue of 88.816 billion yuan, up 11.37%. However, net profit attributable to shareholders was 2.465 billion yuan, plunging 61.11%, with EPS shrinking to 0.29 yuan from 0.74 yuan a year earlier.

The company explained that the profit decline was not due to deteriorating core operations — gross margin of 18.37% was almost flat versus the prior year. The drop was mainly driven by three factors: a delay in recovering tax subsidy income, currency swings that pushed finance costs from -1.692 billion yuan to 280 million yuan (a swing of nearly 2 billion yuan), and other income shrinking from about 3 billion yuan to 478 million yuan.

Overseas business was the brightest spot. First-half overseas revenue reached 56.288 billion yuan, up 56.8%, while domestic revenue fell 18.8% to 45.814 billion yuan, lifting the overseas share to 55.1% — exceeding domestic revenue for the first time. Total sales were 575,800 vehicles, of which overseas sales rose 45.46% to 289,000, accounting for 50.2% of the total.

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10. Gold, silver and oil slide on PCE data

Source: Sina Finance

International gold and silver prices fell on Aug 26 under pressure from U.S. inflation data. The July personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index released that day showed persistent inflationary pressure, boosting bets on a Fed rate hike next month and lifting the dollar. December gold futures settled at $4,653.30 an ounce, down 0.88%, while September silver futures settled at $68.026 an ounce, down 0.96%. Spot gold fell 1.38% to $4,592.86 an ounce.

In oil, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Aug 26 that it had reached an agreement with Oman on the share and revenue distribution of controlled waters in the Strait of Hormuz, improving shipping expectations and pressuring crude prices. October WTI crude settled at $82.23 a barrel, down 0.16%, while October Brent settled at $87.84 a barrel, down 0.84%.

In early trading on Aug 27, spot gold rose 0.38% to $4,609.88 an ounce and spot silver rose 0.76% to $68.629 an ounce, staging a modest rebound.

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