Asian Shares Mixed In Cautious Trade Amid Tech Volatility

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Monday as investors waited for the corporate earnings season to unfold amid concerns over high valuations in AI-linked companies.

After last week's late tech recovery, investors are now reassessing AI spending patterns and the outlook for interest rates and economic growth.

Falling oil prices helped cushion regional losses as millions of barrels of oil continued to flow through the Strait of Hormuz and OPEC+ members backed another modest rise in collective quotas for next month.

The dollar was steady near a two-week low in Asian trading while gold traded slightly lower at $4,163 an ounce after posting its first weekly gain since May.

Brent crude futures traded below $72 a barrel on concerns over a potential supply glut.

China's Shanghai Composite index finished marginally lower at 4,041.24 after a choppy session. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 1.14 percent to 23,616.32.

Japanese markets ended mixed as the yen remained pinned near a 40-year low against the dollar, raising uncertainty about what authorities might do next.

While the Nikkei average finished marginally lower at 69,737.69, the broader Topix index surged 0.92 percent to 4,101.96, extending gains for a sixth straight session.

Auto and machinery stocks rose, with Toyota Motor climbing 3.4 percent and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries skyrocketing 8.4 percent. Among the prominent decliners, Murata Manufacturing, Ibiden and Taiyo Yuden slumped 7-11 percent.

Seoul stocks ended lower as the country launched its historic 24-hour onshore spot dollar-won trading system in a move toward liberalizing its financial markets. The Kospi index dropped 0.46 percent to 8,051.33 amid heavy selling by foreign and institutional investors.

SK Hynix tumbled 3.4 percent ahead of the listing of its $29 billion American depository receipts. Samsung Electronics rallied 2.8 percent on expectations it would report a record quarterly profit on higher semiconductor sales.

Australian stocks ended slightly lower due to losses in financials and consumer stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.15 percent to 8,831 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended 0.12 percent lower at 9,037.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index rallied 1.06 percent to 13,763.10, extending gains from the previous session and hitting a record high.

U.S. stock markets were closed on Friday in observance of Independence Day.

U.S. equity futures ticked higher after Nvidia's server assembly partner Hon Precision Industry Co. reported stronger-than-expected Q2 sales, saying its cloud and networking division benefited from solid demand for AI servers.