Morning brief: Asia stocks rally on US-India trade deal, SpaceX acquires xAI

Asia-Pacific markets rallied on Tuesday as investors reacted to a reported breakthrough in US-India trade talks, while risk sentiment was also shaped by volatile crypto markets, fresh political headlines from Washington, and a major deal in the artificial intelligence sector.

Below are the key developments shaping global markets.

Asian markets surge on US-India trade deal

Asia-Pacific equities jumped after Donald Trump said the United States and India had struck a trade agreement and would immediately begin cutting tariffs on each other’s goods.

In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump added that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to increase purchases of US products following a call between the two leaders.

Trump also said India would halt purchases of Russian crude oil and instead buy more from the US and potentially Venezuela.

India’s Nifty 50 surged nearly 5% at the open before paring gains, last trading up 2.99%, while the Sensex added 3.01%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed more than 3.9% to a record high, with the Topix rising 3.19%.

South Korea’s Kospi jumped more than 6.1%, triggering a buy-side sidecar — a mechanism that temporarily halts purchase orders.

The Korea Exchange said the trigger occurred after KOSPI 200 futures rose more than 5% for over one minute. The Kosdaq index gained 3.29%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 0.16%, while China’s CSI 300 rose 0.78%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.89% after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to 3.85%, its first hike since November 2023, citing persistently elevated inflation.

Bitcoin and precious metals remain volatile

Investors also continued to monitor sharp moves in commodities and digital assets following last week’s turbulence.

Silver prices plunged about 30% on Friday, marking the metal’s worst one-day drop since 1980, while gold fell nearly 10%.

On Tuesday, spot gold rebounded 3.67% to $4,830.94 per ounce, while silver rose 5.86% to $83.99 per ounce.

Bitcoin remained under pressure.

The cryptocurrency was hovering around $78,500 by midday in Singapore, after briefly rebounding from a 10-month low.

Data from Deribit showed that while downside protection via put options had eased, the highest concentration of puts pointed to $75,000 as a key support level, with the next support near $70,000.

Bitcoin’s implied volatility remained elevated at around 48.8, according to TradingView.

Trump seeks $1 billion damages from Harvard

In political news, Trump said late Monday that his administration is seeking $1 billion in damages from Harvard University.

In a Truth Social post, he said the administration wanted “One Billion Dollars in damages” and did not elaborate on the specific harms alleged.

The move follows the administration’s December appeal of a judge’s ruling that it unlawfully terminated more than $2 billion in grants to Harvard.

The university has been a focal point of Trump’s broader campaign to use federal funding to force changes at US universities, which he has accused of antisemitic and “radical left” ideologies.

SpaceX acquires xAI in major AI consolidation

Separately, Elon Musk said SpaceX has acquired his artificial intelligence group xAI, bringing together two of his most ambitious ventures.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but the combined entities are valued at just over $1 trillion based on recent funding rounds.

SpaceX was most recently valued at about $800 billion, while xAI secured a valuation of roughly $230 billion earlier this year.

Announcing the deal, Musk said the merger would help create “a sentient sun to understand the Universe and extend the light of consciousness to the stars.”

The acquisition follows xAI’s merger with Musk’s social media platform X last year and reinforces Musk’s strategy of vertical integration across data, compute and physical infrastructure.

For investors, the deal underscores Musk’s bet that scale and access to computing power will define the next phase of artificial intelligence development.