Oil extends gains as Middle East tensions remain high.

Asia-Pacific equities largely declined, driven by a pullback in U.S. chip stocks that dampened enthusiasm for artificial‑intelligence and weighed on the chip‑heavy South Korean market. The volatile market, home to SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, erased most Wednesday gains and slipped into a bear market—defined as a fall of at least 20% from a recent peak. The sharp drop prompted the Korea Exchange to temporarily suspend trading of the benchmark Kospi’s constituent stocks early Thursday. The index was recently 6.4% lower, while SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics—which together account for about half the capitalization‑weighted index—fell 11% and 8.2%, respectively. SK Hynix’s American depository receipts closed 9.0% lower overnight amid weakness in U.S. semiconductor names such as Nasdaq‑listed Micron Technology and Intel.

Japan’s Nikkei fell 2.8%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.3% lower, China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.6%, and Taiwan’s Taiex slipped 0.1%. In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index bucked the regional trend, rising 1.8%. “Both the Nikkei and the Nasdaq composite have ridden the wave of AI enthusiasm, but trade now feels buffeted by uncertainty and risk of further declines,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.