Main by morning: Samsung breaks record, Trump softens geopolitics

Samsung shares reached an all-time high amid growing investor optimism about the semiconductor industry. Salesforce quotes rose after the publication of ambitious revenue targets of over $60 billion by 2030 and the announcement of new AI products. On these and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of October 16.

US President Donald Trump said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to stop buying Russian oil, which could be a step toward easing tensions between Washington and New Delhi, Bloomberg reports. According to Trump, Modi made the promise during a phone call, adding that the process of cutting off supplies from Russia "has already begun and will soon be completed."

Relations between the countries deteriorated after Trump imposed 50 percent duties on Indian goods and raised fees for H-1B visas, which are actively used by local IT specialists. The Indian side had previously said it would buy Russian oil if it was economically viable, but is now considering increasing purchases of US crude and lowering fees on imports from the United States.

Despite pressure from Washington, Russia remains India's largest oil supplier, providing about a third of all supplies, the agency points out.

Shares of South Korean giant Samsung Electronics jumped 2.74% on Thursday, hitting a record high, amid growing investor optimism about the semiconductor industry, Reuters reports. Shares of the world's largest memory chip maker were trading at 97,600 won ($68.8).

The new high surpassed the record set in January 2021. The agency notes that since the beginning of the year, Samsung shares have already risen by 80%, reflecting market confidence in the recovery of demand for semiconductors and the stability of the technology sector in South Korea.

Salesforce expects its revenue to exceed $60 billion by 2030 - more than Wall Street forecasts - thanks to its aggressive adoption of artificial intelligence tools across its cloud services, Reuters reports. The forecast does not include an $8 billion deal to buy software developer Informatica, which should strengthen the company's AI capabilities by integrating data management and analytics tools.

Salesforce shares rose nearly 4 percent in after-hours trading after a 29 percent drop since the beginning of the year.

The company also announced it will repurchase $7 billion of its own securities over the next six months.

Salesforce sees the Agentforce platform, an AI agent for business process automation that improves efficiency and margins, as a key growth driver.

South Korea's Kospi index hit an all-time high after the IMF raised the country's GDP growth forecast for 2025 from 0.8% to 0.9%, CNBC reported. The index rose nearly 2% to 3,735.9 points. The rise was also helped by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's statements on the imminent conclusion of trade talks with Seoul.

Australia's ASX 200 also hit a record, rising nearly 1 percent to 9109.7 points, despite unemployment rising to 4.5 percent, the highest in nearly four years, reinforcing expectations of fresh interest rate cuts.

Markets in Asia generally strengthened thanks to the revision of the IMF global forecast and stabilization of trade sentiment, although volatility on Wall Street remains elevated amid the ongoing shutdown in the U.S. and tensions with China, the channel points out.

- Japan's broad Topix index rose 0.5 percent, while the Nikkei 225 jumped 1.3 percent.

- Futures on the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor