India Stocks Set to Beat Asia by Most In Over a Year on AI Rout

Indian equities surged on Thursday, outperforming Asian peers by the widest margin in over a year as an artificial intelligence trade unwind triggered a broad rotation into markets that had missed the AI-driven rally. The NSE Nifty 50 Index climbed as much as 1.8%, its largest intraday gain in four months, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell nearly 3%. The divergence marked India’s biggest relative outperformance against the region since early 2023.

Persistent US inflation concerns, which threaten higher interest rates and could raise financing costs for AI infrastructure, accelerated the selloff in tech-heavy markets. South Korea’s KOSPI Index dropped more than 7.5%, and Taiwan’s benchmark fell 3.4%. Meanwhile, the Indian rupee strengthened nearly 2% against the dollar this week following Reserve Bank of India interventions.

Limited AI exposure has made India an attractive hedge for investors fleeing overvalued tech markets. “The crash in AI is driving huge outflows from other Asian markets, while the rupee’s stabilization is helping improve foreign investor sentiment at the margin,” said Charlie Hong, chief investment officer at LOGOS Asset Management. Despite the rally, India’s benchmark remains on track for its first annual decline in 11 years. The advance was concentrated in large-cap stocks, with small-cap indices falling over 1%.

印度股市周四飙升，在人工智能交易 unwind 中跑赢亚洲股市，幅度达到一年来的最大水平。NSE Nifty 50指数上涨高达1.8%，为四个月来最大单日涨幅，而MSCI亚太指数则下跌近3%。这种差异标志着自2023年初以来印度相对亚洲市场的最大超涨表现。持续的美国通胀担忧可能导致利率上升，从而增加人工智能基础设施的融资成本，加速了科技股市场的抛售。韩国KOSPI指数下跌超过7.5%，台湾基准指数下跌3.4%。与此同时，印度卢比本周对美元汇率上涨近2%，这得益于印度储备银行的干预措施。有限的人工智能曝光使印度成为投资者逃离高估的科技市场的吸引力之选。“人工智能的崩盘正在导致其他亚洲市场出现大量资金外流，而卢比的稳定则有助于改善外国投资者的情绪，”LOGOS资产管理公司首席投资官Charlie Hong表示。尽管出现了反弹，印度基准指数仍处于11年来的首次年度下跌轨道。上涨主要集中在蓝筹股上，小盘股指数下跌超过1%。