Good morning and welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving.
Asian equities are broadly higher this session, tracking Wall Street's overnight gains as semiconductor and AI names led the charge. The catalyst was a heavily oversubscribed SK Hynix IPO in the United States, a signal that institutional appetite for the AI infrastructure trade remains very much intact across the region.
Shifting to India, equities are set to open modestly higher after crude oil prices pulled back sharply, snapping a two-day rally. Markets had been pricing in a wider Middle East conflict premium, but traders are now reading the U.S.-Iran situation as contained, at least for now, and that relief is flowing directly into import-sensitive economies like India's.
In biotech, Virax Biolabs is the standout mover today, doubling in a single session after announcing a deal with Fosun Diagnostics. Forte Biosciences is also surging on encouraging vitiligo trial data. Both moves reflect how quickly sentiment can pivot in small-cap biotech when a binary catalyst lands in your favor.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
