Nikkei 225 Index Extends Gain, Hits New All-Time High

June 17 – According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index gained 0.83% intraday, while Samsung Electronics surged 4.62% during the same trading session.

U.S. stock index futures were higher on June 17, according to market data, with S&P 500 index futures rising 0.3% and Nasdaq index futures advancing 0.6%.

June 17 (Bloomberg) — Prediction market platform Kalshi plans to expand its perpetual contract business beyond digital assets, co-founder Tarek Mansour announced. The company is in discussions with regulators to add contract options for additional asset classes. Launched just two weeks ago, Kalshi’s perpetual contract product has already generated over $5.5 billion in total trading volume. To date, the platform offers 11 perpetual contracts, all tied to cryptocurrencies.

June 17 update, via Hyperinsight’s Telegram monitoring (https://t.me/HyperInsight): Since early June 12, when Trump scrapped the planned strike on Iran and explicitly announced arrangements to sign a peace deal, WTI crude oil has pulled back 15.8% from its recent high. Recently, as details of the U.S.-Iran agreement emerge and market expectations rise for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, WTI crude dipped below $75 today. WTIOIL on Hyperliquid is currently trading at $74.92; since the official start of the U.S.-Iran war on February 28, oil prices have retraced 87.7% of their earlier gains. A Hyperliquid whale opened a short position on June 12, shorting 42,139 WTIOIL contracts with 20x leverage, for a total position value of roughly $31.57 million. This position now holds an unrealized profit of $3.45 million, translating to a ~200% return. The average entry price was $83.10, making this the largest WTIOIL short position on the platform. Wallet Address: 0x9e8b1e51c642f4c8b87c6ba1

June 17: According to Al Arabiya, Israel launched a drone strike on the southern Lebanese town of Ansariyeh. (FXStreet)

On June 17, Morgan Stanley noted that AI servers and data centers will fuel explosive demand growth for high-end multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. stands out as the top pick in Japan’s electronics components sector, thanks to its ability to consistently mass-produce small, high-capacity MLCCs—an edge no peer has matched yet. In a June 16 research report, analysts including Shoji Sato sharply raised Murata’s price target from ￥5,100 to ￥12,500, maintained an Overweight rating, and named the Japanese firm their industry Top Pick. The report projects Murata will hold a 40.8% share of the global MLCC market by 2025, outpacing rivals Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Taiyo Yuden. Morgan Stanley forecasts global MLCC shipment values will jump from $14.67 billion in 2025 to $24.25 billion in 2028, translating to a 18.2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the three-year period. Demand for small, high-capacity, high-value MLCCs tailored to AI servers a