Taipei-listed shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (2330.TW) surged nearly 10% on Thursday, after the chipmaker posted a 42% increase in revenue in the first quarter.
In its monthly release, TSMC said revenue for March was up 10% on the previous month, at 285.96 billion new Taiwan dollars (£6.8bn/$8.7bn).
Revenues for the first quarter totalled TWD839.25bn, an increase of 41.6% on the same period last year. In US dollar terms that equated to around $25.5bn, which was slightly towards the higher end of guidance of between $25bn and $25.8bn.
TSMC had warned in its January revenue report that it that it had been impacted by severe earthquakes in Taiwan, estimating related losses of around TWD5.3bn. As a result of the earthquake damage, TSMC said it expected its revenue for the first quarter to be closer to the lower end of the guidance range.
Investors will now be looking ahead to the chipmaker's full first quarter results, due out on Thursday 17 April.
Stock markets globally rebounded on Thursday after US president Donald Trump backed down from an all-out trade war.
Trump announced on Wednesday a 90-day pause on higher custom tariffs which applied to certain countries, but kept 10% baseline duties in place that came into effect last weekend for all countries. He also announced that he would be raising the rate of tariffs on China to 125%, saying that Beijing had shown a "lack of respect".
Following Trump's about-turn on many tariffs, US stocks staged a historic rally, with the S&P 500 (^GSPC) seeing its best day since 2008 on Wednesday. However, futures tied to the S&P 500 (ES=F) tumbled 1.5% on Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) jumped nearly 5% on Thursday, while the pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) gained nearly 6%.
Shares in Trump Media jumped nearly 22% in Wednesday's session and were up a further 5% in pre-market trading on Thursday morning.
Shares in US Steel (X) were down 11% in pre-market trading on Thursday, after Trump said he doesn't want Japan's Nippon Steel (5401.T) to take over the company.
"We don't want it to go to Japan or any other place, and we're working with them," Trump said.
This followed the news on Monday that Trump had ordered a review into US Steel's blocked deal with Nippon Steel.
In early January, then-president Joe Biden issued an order prohibiting the acquisition of US Steel by Nippon Steel, over national security concerns.
A memo issued by the White House on Monday said the president had directed the committee on foreign investment in the US to conduct a review of the proposed acquisition to determine if "further action" may be appropriate.
Pharmaceuticals giant Novo Nordisk (NOVO-B.CO), one of Europe's biggest listed companies, was among the stocks rising on Thursday, up 5% at the time of writing.
Stocks in sector slumped in Wednesday's session after Trump warned on Tuesday that he would soon unveil a "major" levy on pharmaceuticals.
The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), whose members include AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and Bayer (BAYN.DE), said pharma CEOs had alerted European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to the risk of a mass exodus to the US.
In a statement, the EFPIA said CEOs had issued a warning to von der Leyen on Tuesday that "unless Europe delivers rapid, radical policy change then pharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing is increasingly likely to be directed towards the US."
"The US now leads Europe on every investor metric from availability of capital, intellectual property, speed of approval to rewards for innovation," the EFPIA said. "In addition to the uncertainty created by the threat of tariffs, there is little incentive to invest in the EU and significant drivers to relocate to the US."
On the UK market, shares in Tesco were down 5% on Thursday morning, after the supermarket said it expected to generate lower profits as competition over prices heats up.
In its preliminary full-year results, released on Thursday, Tesco said it had seen a "further increase in the competitive intensity of the UK market" over the past few months.
As a result, Tesco said it was issuing financial guidance for the year ahead that gives it the "flexibility and firepower to be able to respond to current market conditions."
For the 2025/26 fiscal year, the supermarket said it expected to generate group adjusted operating profit of between £2.7bn ($3.5bn) and £3bn, which would be lower than the £3.1bn it reported for this past year.
Tesco said it was also seeking to make another £500m in cost cuts in the coming year to help offset operating cost inflation, including the impact of higher employer national insurance contributions, which were announced in the autumn budget in October.
Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Fears of a price war that could squeeze profitability have weighed on sentiment across the sector recently, but it hasn’t materialised yet. Even if it does, Tesco reckons it’s in the most competitive position it's been in for many years, helped by the Aldi price match and Clubcard prices keeping customers loyal. And despite recent headlines, Asda doesn’t appear to have the financial firepower to disrupt this dynamic."
