Asian stock markets close out April! Dragged down by crude oil, Taiwan stocks and the Nikkei suffer sharp declines, while Korean stocks hit new highs against the trend thanks to semiconductors.

Major Asian stock markets showed divergent trends on the final trading day of April. The Nikkei fell by more than 1%, and the Taiwan stock market plunged nearly 400 points, while the South Korean Kospi bucked the trend to hit a record high. Brent crude oil briefly surged past $126 to reach a four-year high, which, combined with hawkish signals of division within the Fed, became the two major factors hitting Asian markets. (Previous coverage: Powell's curtain call! Hosting his final FOMC tonight, interest rates remain unchanged; successor Walsh's crypto holdings exceed $100 million) (Background supplement: WTI crude oil surged 3%, Brent broke $111: Ninth week of the Strait of Hormuz blockade) Major Asian stock markets showed divergent trends on the last trading day of April. The Nikkei 225 fell 1.06% to close at 59,284 points, and the TOPIX fell 1.19%. The Taiwan Weighted Index was hit by heavy sell orders in late trading, plunging 376 points to close at 38,926 points, with TSMC closing at its daily low of 2,135 NTD. The Hang Seng Index fell slightly by 0.36%. However, the South Korean Kospi rose against the trend to hit a record high, and the CSI 300 also closed slightly in the green, driven by manufacturing PMI that exceeded expectations. Crude oil soars to a four-year high Brent crude oil futures surged more than 6% on Thursday to over $126 per barrel, hitting a four-year high. WTI crude oil also rose 3.14% at one point to $110.24. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the direct trigger for the rise in oil prices is that U.S. Central Command commander Brad Cooper will brief Trump on a new round of military action plans against Iran, including plans for "short and sharp" airstrikes on infrastructure and the deployment of ground troops to seize control of parts of the Strait of Hormuz. The blockade of the strait has now lasted for nine weeks, with about 20% of global oil shipments still disrupted. The possibility of further military escalation has left the energy-sensitive Japanese and Taiwanese stock markets bearing the brunt. Fed's Powell's last dance reveals division Another pressure comes from the Fed. The previous night's FOMC voted 8 to 4 to keep interest rates unchanged at 3.5% to 3.75%, the highest number of dissenting votes since 1992. The three dissenting officials, Beth Hammack, Neel Kashkari, and Lorie Logan, did not oppose keeping interest rates unchanged, but rather opposed the "easing bias." In an environment where oil prices remain high, their stance effectively tells the market that interest rate cuts are no longer an option. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield jumped more than 5 basis points to 4.41% after the decision. This was Powell's last time chairing the FOMC as Chairman, with his term expiring on May 15. Despite the pressure on the final day of April, looking at the entire month, the performance of Asian stocks was actually quite astonishing. The South Korean Kospi surged nearly 31% in a single month, marking its strongest monthly gain since 1998, with SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics rising 60% and 35% respectively for the month, driven primarily by AI chip demand. The Taiwan stock market also skyrocketed 7,203 points in April, setting the largest single-month gain in history, hitting a high of 40,194 points during the session. China's manufacturing PMI was reported at 50.3, better than expected, but the services PMI fell to 49.4, falling into contraction, indicating uneven recovery momentum. The core narrative of the April market was the tug-of-war between the AI semiconductor frenzy and the energy premium from the Middle East war. Monthly gains were astonishing, but the final day was dealt a blow by oil prices and the Fed.