TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed while South Korea’s Kospi stock index dropped 6% Wednesday as doubts over massive investments in artificial intelligence once again led investors to dump chipmakers' shares.
U.S. futures were little changed.
The latest rout in Seoul was led by a plunge in shares in chipmaker SK Hynix after its operating profit in the last quarter fell short of analysts’ forecasts even though it soared nearly sixfold.
The Kospi fell
more than 8% earlier in the day, but closed 6% lower, at 5,663.24. The benchmark only recently had topped 9,000 before bouncing back down to its lowest level since early April.
SK Hynix sank 9.4% while shares in Samsung Electronics dropped 4.8%.
Markets have been stricken by bouts of selling of AI-related stocks as investors react to various developments including progress in China toward cheaper, advanced AI models.
Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 1.5% to 61,434.19, giving up early gains. Shares in chipmaking equipment maker Tokyo Electron sank 10.6% and chip measuring and inspection systems maker Lasertec Corp. fell 8.3%.
Japanese stocks were mixed in their reaction to a major earthquake that rattled the southern Kyushu region a day earlier. A previous earthquake in the region caused severe damage and disruptions for automakers and other manufacturers.
Shares in Nippon Paper, owner of a mill in the disaster zone that was severely damaged by Tuesday’s quake, fell 2.1%.
Taiwan’s Taiex shed 3.8%.
The Shanghai Composite index reversed early losses to pick up 0.4%. It closed at 3,830.02.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.8% to 25,762.80.
In Australia the S&P/ASX 200 added 1% to 9,038.60 after the government reported that inflation has remained moderate, relieving pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates.
India's Sensex added 1.1%.
In other trading, oil prices that had eased from the two-month high that they hit last week rebounded as a brief pause in fighting in the Iran war was shattered. Jordan’s air defenses intercepted five missiles launched from Iran early Wednesday, the country’s military said, hours after the U.S. military said it had knocked down an Iranian missile barrage launched against American forces in the Middle East.
The calm persisted for about three days following weeks of escalation over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf waterway and narrow chokepoint through which 20% of the world’s traded oil normally flows.
Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 3.1% to $84.58 a barrel.
Benchmark U.S. crude gained 3.6% to $82.14 a barrel.
On Tuesday, shares were mixed on Wall Street.
The S&P 500 added 0.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1%.
The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2%.
The majority of U.S. stocks rose after more companies delivered stronger profits for the spring than analysts expected. Coca-Cola climbed 5% after its revenue rose 7%.
Expectations for stellar earnings reports are weighing particularly heavily on stocks of chipmakers and other companies that have been huge winners from the boom in artificial-intelligence technology.
Micron Technology’s stock came into the day having more than tripled for the year following gangbuster growth, but its shares sank 8.9%.
Other tech companies helping to keep the market in check were Advanced Micro Devices, down 8.1%, and Applied Materials, down 7.8%.
In currency trading early Wednesday in Asia, the U.S. dollar slipped to 163.53 Japanese yen from 163.81 yen. The euro cost $1.1396, up from $1.1391.
