Emerging-market equities climbed to a three-month high as sentiment got a boost after Tencent Holdings decided to integrate DeepSeek’s AI model into WeChat.
The MSCI emerging-market equities gauge rose as much as 1.1% and was trading at the highest level since November. Its second-biggest component, Tencent Holdings, joined a host of service providers and government agencies that are seeking to integrate the DeepSeek AI model, which it claims to be cheaper than those offered by US big tech, across China.
ADVERTISEMENT
CONTINUE READING BELOW
The sentiment was further boosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting with prominent entrepreneurs, which fueled hopes that the country’s authorities may adopt a more business-friendly stance. Those invited to the event with the nation’s top leaders include Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. co-founder Jack Ma and DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng.
Trading volumes were lower as the US market was closed due to the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday.
“The DeepSeek-driven rally appears to have further upside in the short term, supported by relatively low valuations, growing optimism that China’s tech innovation could surpass the US, and accelerating AI adoption,” said James Ooi, a Singapore-based market strategist at Tiger Brokers.
China tech stocks “continue to deserve an overweight in Asian investors portfolios,” as DeepSeek has reignited investor focus on the technological prowess of these companies, Nomura Holdings Inc. strategists including Chetan Seth wrote in a Feb. 16 note. These “developments should further alleviate the discount on China stocks” relative to US tech shares, they added.
In the currency market, the Philippine peso fell the most among Asian peers as the nation’s December remittance figures lagged estimates. The MSCI EM Currency index was little changed.
CEE currencies
Eastern European assets, which have been rallying on the prospect of further steps toward a peace deal in Ukraine, looked mixed as a majority of the European Union states were excluded from a hastily arranged summit in Paris.
“Talk of a potential ceasefire in Ukraine has supported risk, CEE currencies in particular,” analysts at Barclays said in a note. “But the rally looks premature.”
The forint, zloty and koruna were little changed against the euro on Monday morning after a rally last week and Barclays said there was “limited scope for further gains in European FX on hopes for a Russia-Ukraine deal.”
ADVERTISEMENT:
CONTINUE READING BELOW
Meanwhile, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the country’s forint currency may go beyond a 400 mark against the euro on the Ukraine peace talks.
Ethiopian bonds
Some of Ukraine’s dollar bonds started giving back gains, with zero-coupon notes due 2034 weakening for a second day.
At the same time, an index of Ukrainian stocks traded in Warsaw climbed to the highest since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Meanwhile, Romania’s central bank raised its inflation forecast as internal fiscal and political uncertainties increase.
In Africa, an ad hoc committee of Ethiopia bondholders said that a second review conducted by the International Monetary Fund on the country’s financing program has “significant flaws” and is “artificially creating a solvency issue” for the country.
© 2025 Bloomberg
Follow Moneyweb’s in-depth finance and business news on WhatsApp here.