Asian Shares Mixed Amid Tech Pullback

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday as chip stocks faced selling pressure following a sharp pullback in U.S. semiconductor and technology stocks overnight.

Brent crude futures held steady around $79 a barrel after the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed they had fired ballistic missiles towards a Saudi oil tanker on the Red Sea off the Saudi Port of Yanbu, underscoring ongoing risks to regional shipping.

Gold inched up to $4,253 an ounce, rising for a fourth straight session and hovering near a seven-week high, driven by softer U.S. labor market data released overnight, a weaker dollar and lower Treasury yields.

After U.S. private-sector hiring missed expectations in July and a few Fed officials advocated for some sort of monetary policy tightening to get inflation back to the target, investors looked ahead to the release of Friday's all-important nonfarm payrolls report for additional clues on the economic and rate outlook.

China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.57 percent to 3,900.35 as higher gold prices boosted bullion-related shares.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.49 percent to 25,530.28 as shares of major insurers and banks declined following reports that mainland Chinese tax authorities have collected personal income tax on returns from offshore insurance policies.

Japanese markets ended lower as a sell-off in chip and AI-linked stocks overshadowed signs of eased tensions in the Middle East. The Nikkei average dropped 0.93 percent to 65,683.26 while the broader Topix index settled 0.24 percent higher at 4,055.85.

Kioxia Holdings slumped 10.2 percent after SanDisk's guidance for the September quarter missed Wall Street's high expectations. Advantest, SoftBank and Tokyo Electron declined 2-3 percent.

The yen jumped nearly 3 percent to a two-month high against the dollar following recent rare joint U.S.-Japan currency intervention.

Seoul stocks nosedived as tech shares lost ground on concerns over profitability of artificial intelligence (AI) spending. The Kospi index plunged 4.58 percent to 6,296.38 after rising 1.6 percent and 3.8 percent in the previous two sessions.

Samsung Electronics fell 6.3 percent and SK Hynix plummeted 10.4 percent on doubts about profitability of large-scale investment in AI infrastructure.

Australian markets advanced to reach a new record high on hopes for a U.S.-Iran deal. Mining stocks topped the gainers list as copper prices hit a three-month high. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.47 percent to 9,271.60 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed half a percent higher at 9,452.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index slipped 0.28 percent to 13,958.06, snapping a three-day winning streak.

U.S. stocks ended mixed overnight. While the Dow rose half a percent to a record on hopes for a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the S&P 500 eased 0.2 percent as data showed U.S. private payrolls growth slowed in July.

Separate data showed U.S. manufacturing continued to expand in July, although momentum remained subdued. Services-sector activity growth came in slightly below market expectations.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.8 percent, marking its first decline in five sessions as SpaceX and AMD both stumbled following their quarterly earnings announcements.