Asian shares are mixed with tech stocks volatile, and oil falls on Trump's Russian sanctions waiver
HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares were mixed Monday as volatility in technology stocks persisted, while U.S. equity futures edged higher ahead of another week of American corporate earnings results.
Oil prices fell more than 1% after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to waive sweeping sanctions on Russia, including on Russian energy.
A sell-off of technology shares from Asia to Wall Street recently put downward pressure on stock markets, as investor concerns grow over the sustainability of the artificial intelligence boom.
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index was up 1.1% to 5,729.58 on Monday, after falling sharply last week. The Kospi is down more than 18% over the past month, and still well below the 9,000 mark it crossed in June at its peak on the global AI frenzy.
Samsung Electronics was up 0.7%, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix fell 0.9%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.8% to 64,799.03. Japanese chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron lost 2.1%, and OpenAI investor SoftBank Group dropped 3.6%.
Hong Kong’s stock market was closed because of a holiday. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.2% higher to 3,722.20, after China reported better-than-expected growth of 4.5% for its economy in the July-September quarter.
CXMT, China’s leading memory chipmaker, fell more than 7% despite the company forecasting a strong profit for the first nine months.
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1%. Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, were down 0.6%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.3% higher at 8,832.20.
India’s Sensex edged down 0.1%.
Indonesia’s benchmark stock index fell another 5% to its lowest level since 2020, after it plunged over 11% on Friday following a warning from index provider MSCI that it would downgrade the country from its “emerging market” status.
On Friday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 declined 1.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite sank 2.1%.
Investors this week are watching for more big corporate earnings results from the U.S., including Meta, Netflix, General Motors, Tesla and IBM. Strong company earnings have been one factor that’s been keeping U.S. stocks robust lately.
Oil prices were down early Monday, with Brent crude, the international standard, falling 1.8% to $107.86 per barrel.
Benchmark U.S. crude dropped 1.6% to $97.43 per barrel.
Oil fell after Trump on Friday signed an executive order to put new broad U.S. sanctions against Russia on hold just days before they were to come into effect, drawing disappointment from Ukraine, with the move likely resulting in more energy exports from Russia.
Trump's decision came not long after he said earlier this month he had reached a diesel deal with Russia in an attempt to bring down elevated U.S. fuel prices ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
But even with the decline, oil prices have remained elevated compared with those seen before the Iran war. Global oil supply risks are still high amid tensions in the Middle East, including uncertainty surrounding oil transport in the Strait of Hormuz, adding upward pressure to prices.
The U.S. dollar fell slightly to 158.09 Japanese yen from 158.10 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1231, down from $1.1234.
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AP Business Writer Alex Veiga contributed to this report.
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