CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday, with technology stocks rallying in South Korea and Japan as robust earnings from Micron and Qualcomm helped ease concerns over AI demand, elevated valuations and the sustainability of the artificial-intelligence trade that has pushed global stocks to record highs.
A cautious undertone prevailed elsewhere across the region ahead of the release of key U.S. GDP and PCE inflation data that could offer additional clues on the Federal Reserve's rate trajectory.
The dollar continued to gain and headed toward its sharpest monthly gain in almost a year while gold extended losses to hover below $4,000 an ounce after falling to a more than seven-month low in the previous session.
Oil extended recent declines, with Brent crude futures falling below $73 a barrel - extending losses for a fourth consecutive session as tanker movement through the Strait of Hormuz picked up.
China's Shanghai Composite index edged up by 0.23 percent to 4,120.28 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.43 percent to 23,076.91.
Alibaba Group Holdings shares slumped 4.4 percent after Anthropic accused the Chinese ecommerce giant of illicitly using its Claude AI assistant to train cheaper and smaller models.
Japanese markets logged strong gains as the yen remained pinned near 40-year lows against the dollar and AI-related shares surged following upbeat earnings and forecasts from semiconductor giants Qualcomm and Micron.
The Nikkei average surged 4.61 percent to 72,366.34 while the broader Topix index closed up 1.33 percent at 4,016.47.
Tokyo Electron and SoftBank Group both surged around 8 percent, while Advantest soared over 15 percent, Taiyo Yuden rallied 11.2 percent and Screen Holdings advanced 9.3 percent.
Seoul stocks led regional gains as semiconductor stocks surged on expectations of strong chip demand following Micron's upbeat profit and revenue outlook. The Kospi index jumped 5.42 percent to close at 8,930.30, after having reclaimed the 9,000 level earlier in the day.
Samsung Electronics surged 5.3 percent after saying it is currently reviewing a buyback of shares for stock-based compensation based on its management performance in 2026.
SK Hynix soared more than 13 percent after announcing plans for a blockbuster Nasdaq listing worth $29.4 billion.
Australian markets fell notably after new data showed the economy added more jobs than expected in May, keeping the door open for the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates further.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.68 percent to 8,748.70, reaching its lowest level in nearly two weeks, dragged down by banks and mining stocks. The broader All Ordinaries index settled 0.68 percent lower at 8,951.60.
Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index climbed 0.69 percent to 13,493.05, snapping a three-day losing streak.
Overnight, U.S. stocks gave up early gains to end mixed as investors rotated out of high-flying technology and artificial intelligence stocks into other beaten-down sectors.
Traders also digested disappointing data that showed U.S. new home sales unexpectedly fell in May for the second straight month.
While the Dow rose 0.4 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 slid 0.1 percent on lingering inflation and rate hike concerns.
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