By Ronnie Harui and Jason Chau
Asian equities were mostly lower Tuesday afternoon amid AI-related concerns and continuing Middle East tensions, while Bitcoin topped $80,000 on growing support for the cryptocurrency as a dollar hedge.
The declines across most stock markets in the region followed an overnight drop in U.S. shares tied to the artificial-intelligence trade ahead of Wednesday's earnings update from Nvidia. Chip, memory and other infrastructure names were among the biggest losers in the S&P 500 index on Monday.
South Korea's Kospi edged 0.2% lower, with chip-making index heavyweights SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics declining 1.6% and 1.0%, respectively. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shed 0.25%, China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.1%, and Taiwan's Taiex lost 0.2%. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.4%, reversing morning losses, and Singapore's FTSE Straits Times Index added 0.4%.
"The main theme was renewed pressure on technology and semiconductor stocks," Commerzbank Research analysts said in a note. "Investors turned cautious ahead of a major AI earnings report due on Wednesday after the close, which could test whether strong underlying demand can offset concerns over valuations and returns on investment," the analysts added.
