Asian Stocks Slip on Tech Rout, Iran
Asian equity markets opened lower on Thursday, extending a technology‑driven sell‑off and reacting to heightened U.S.–Iran tensions. The Australian ASX 200 declined 0.5%, while China’s Shanghai‑Shenzhen CSI 300 fell 1.1% and the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.8%. Singapore’s Straits Times Index dropped 0.4% and futures on India’s Nifty 50 were down 0.3%.
In the region’s tech‑heavy bourses, South Korea’s KOSPI, Japan’s Nikkei 225, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng each lost more than 1%. The KOSPI initially plunged as much as 4% before recovering modestly after heavyweight chipmaker SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) reported a plan to triple its wafer‑fabrication capacity, providing a brief rally.
Chip‑related stocks carried the largest weight in the technology sector this week, as investors locked in gains from an artificial‑intelligence‑driven rally that surged in May. The AI rally appeared to cool in June, with a Wall Street Journal report indicating that OpenAI was contemplating deep price cuts to stay competitive with rival Anthropic, a move that could further pressure AI‑centric equities.
Beyond technology, broader market sentiment was dampened by escalating military strikes between the United States and Iran on Wednesday. The United States announced strikes on several Iranian military targets, prompting retaliatory attacks by Tehran on American bases and regional allies. The conflict lifted crude‑oil prices, adding to inflation worries.
Inflation concerns were already elevated after a strong U.S. consumer‑price index reading for May, and markets awaited producer‑price data later on Thursday for additional guidance. In the United States, S&P 500 futures steadied during Asian trading, recouping some of the early losses caused by the tech sell‑off.
Overall, the combination of a cooling AI rally, SK Hynix’s capacity expansion news, and renewed U.S.–Iran hostilities created a multi‑factor pressure on Asian equities, leading to a broadly negative market bias across the region.