Asia’s major equity indices closed higher across the board on Friday, 9 October, in a session marked by thinner liquidity due to public holidays in South Korea and Taiwan, with declining oil prices and expectations of a strong revenue outlook for OpenAI underpinning risk appetite.

In Japan, the Nikkei ended virtually flat, slipping just 0.016%, while the Topix added 0.33%. In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.61% and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.28%.

The MSCI Asia-Pacific regional index appreciated approximately 0.20%, snapping a two-session losing streak, after forecasts emerged suggesting that the annual revenues of OpenAI — owner of ChatGPT — could reach or exceed $70 billion by year-end, according to sources familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg. The company shared the figures with investors as part of negotiations for its latest funding round, the same sources added.

Even so, the regional index was unable to post a net gain for the week as a whole, weighed down by elevated bond yields.

Investors will be watching closely to see whether the latest rally in technology stocks can hold, following recent volatility surrounding artificial intelligence companies, amid persistent uncertainty over stretched valuations and the level of capital expenditure across the sector. Friday’s decline in energy prices may nonetheless provide some relief, after President Donald Trump stated that the United States does not intend to strike Iran ahead of November’s midterm elections.

“What we have seen over the past 18 months or so is a succession of waves of bad news around AI and the broader technology sector, which typically end up calming after a few days, allowing the market to reassert its optimistic view,” Seema Shah of Principal Asset Management told the financial news agency.

In China, equities broadly reversed earlier losses, with investors pointing to reports that the country’s financial regulator had advised investment funds and insurers to limit sell orders.

Among notable individual moves, Xiaomi surged more than 8% after the Chinese technology group announced that its SkyNomad electric vehicle sold over 70,000 units in the month following its launch.