Southern 2x Inverse Nikkei (07515) jumped more than 6% during Tuesday's trading session, before settling at a 4.64% gain to HK$13.77, with turnover reaching HK$11.465 million. The sharp advance comes as escalating tensions in the Middle East and growing worries over Japan's fiscal stability triggered a broad selloff across multiple maturities of Japanese government bonds, including the 2-year, 5-year, and 20-year notes.

On August 18, the benchmark 10-year government bond yield—a key long-term interest rate indicator—continued its upward climb, briefly touching 2.945%. This level marks the highest point since October 1996, nearly three decades, and sits just 5.5 basis points shy of the psychologically significant 3% threshold. The widespread surge in yields has intensified speculation that the Bank of Japan may implement another rate hike as soon as next month.

According to the chief strategist at Daiwa Asset Management, rising yields are poised to elevate borrowing costs for large-scale cloud service providers, potentially casting doubt over capital expenditure plans. This development could also weigh on infrastructure companies that have been major beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence investment boom, as higher financing expenses threaten to dampen the momentum of AI-driven expansion projects.