BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Asian shares ended mixed on Thursday after steep losses on Wall Street overnight.
Middle East tensions and rate hike expectations kept investors on edge, but overall losses were limited after the U.S. military said that it had 'completed' its latest round of airstrikes targeting Iran.
The dollar held steady near a two-month high in Asian trading after the U.S. launched fresh strikes on Iran.
Gold jumped 0.8 percent to $4,104 an ounce, rebounding from a six-month low as investors sought safe-haven assets amid escalating U.S.-Iran tensions.
Brent crude futures fell below $93 a barrel, reversing gains from earlier in the session on hopes that U.S.-Iran peace negotiations could resume.
After launching a wave of new strikes on multiple targets in Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the Iranians were delaying a deal and that there would be more attacks if no peace deal is secured.
Iran has vowed to retaliate and accused the U.S. of 'war crimes', citing damage to civilian infrastructure.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said early today they had launched counterattacks on 18 U.S.-military targets at airbases in Kuwait and Bahrain.
China's Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.16 percent to 3,987.01 as shares of tech companies including Alibaba and JD.com tumbled on concerns about regulatory scrutiny. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.65 percent to 24,249.29.
Japanese markets fluctuated before ending on a flat note as a government survey showed business sentiment among major Japanese companies worsened during the April-June period.
While the Nikkei average finished marginally higher at 64,217.27, the broader Topix index settled 0.45 percent lower at 3,830.35.
Tech stocks ended mixed, with SoftBank Group and Fujikura both falling over 1 percent while Tokyo Electron rallied 2.5 percent.
Seoul stocks ended modestly higher after a choppy session. The Kospi index rose 0.43 percent to 7,763.95 as AI woes eased and government data showed South Korea's chip exports more than tripled from a year earlier in the first 10 days of June to US$11 billion.
Among the top gainers, SK Hynix jumped 2.6 percent and SK Square soared 3.8 percent. Australian markets ended slightly lower as property tax fears hammered bank stocks, offsetting gains in the mining sector.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.23 percent to 8,633.20 while the broader All Ordinaries index slid 0.23 percent to close at 8,836.70.
Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index ended down 0.39 percent at 13,202.16, snapping a two-day winning streak.
U.S. stocks tumbled overnight as fresh U.S.-Iran military clashes cast doubt on the prospects for a peace deal and data showed consumer inflation soared to its highest level in three years in May, matching expectations.
President Donald Trump ramped up his threats against Iran after the two sides traded strikes following the downing of an Apache helicopter.
Trump said that Iran has 'taken too long' to negotiate and would have to 'pay the price.' Later he told reporters the U.S. would attack them 'very hard'.
On the data front, the 4.2 percent annual rise in CPI inflation boosted bets that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates this year. Core CPI came in at a 2.9 percent annual rate.
The Dow slumped 1.9 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gave up 2 percent and the S&P 500 declined 1.6 percent.
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