Asian technology stocks shine through geopolitical clouds, emerging market stocks welcome four consecutive gains.

Despite political risks heating up in Europe and the Middle East region for GEO Group Inc, the strong rise of Asian technology stocks has formed a hedge, driving emerging market stocks to achieve the longest four-day consecutive rise since June. Data shows that the MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose by 0.8%, hitting a four-year high, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR (TSM.US) contributing about a quarter of the increase. After the company's management announced a 34% growth in August sales, the stock price soared to a historic high, highlighting the continued global demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chips. "Since September, emerging market stocks have achieved significant gains, mainly due to the optimistic sentiment in the Asian technology sector, while the market's expectation of a weaker US dollar and the upcoming Fed rate cut have also been increasing," said Nenad Dinic, emerging markets stock strategist at Baosheng Media Group Holdings Ltd in Zurich. He added, "Furthermore, the uncertainty surrounding US tariff policy has largely subsided, providing support for stable capital inflows." The overall movement of the emerging market currency index was not significant, with the New Taiwan dollar leading the way and Eastern European assets performing weakly. During Russia's airstrikes on neighboring Ukraine and Poland shooting down several cross-border drones, the euro exchange rate in Warsaw dropped by more than 0.5%, and stocks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange also performed poorly. "The Polish government's previous announcement of raising the tax rate on the banking industry has negatively impacted the domestic stock market sentiment, and this drone incident may further exacerbate this pessimistic atmosphere," noted Adnan El-Araby, chief manager at Baron Emerging Europe, Middle East, and Africa Opportunities Fund. In the Middle East region, Israel's attack on Hamas leadership within Qatar this week has sparked criticism from the US and heightened the risk of escalation in the region. However, the impact of this event on the market is mixed: some Israeli dollar bonds in emerging market assets performed poorly, but the new shekel rebounded against the dollar on Wednesday. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia's newly appointed Finance Minister, Pool Corporation Bayu Yudhi Sadewa, has pledged to control the budget deficit within the statutory limit of 3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), leading to a rebound in various Indonesian assets.