Asian shares rise as AI stocks rebound despite Brent surging on Iran war

Asian shares mostly rose as technology stocks rebounded even with oil surging on the Iran war. The jump in crude and bond yields has sharpened worries over inflation, rates and growth.Image used for representational purposes onlyAsian shares were mostly higher on Thursday, even as the war with Iran drove oil prices sharply higher. Brent crude rose past USD 96 a barrel, raising concerns about inflation and the wider impact on businesses, consumers and financial markets.Investors were also tracking a mixed picture on Wall Street, where stock indexes were little changed on Wednesday as oil climbed and artificial intelligence-linked shares stayed in focus. Market participants are watching whether heavy spending on processors, computer memory and other parts of the AI boom will produce enough profit to justify the investment.In Asia, South Korea's Kospi rose 3.7 per cent to 7,028.66 as appetite for AI-related stocks revived despite the retreat on Wall Street. Samsung Electronics gained 3 per cent, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix advanced 3.4 per cent. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.5 per cent to 66,461.62, led by technology stocks, with SoftBank Group climbing 3.3 per cent.The US dollar was trading at 163.05 yen as the Japanese currency hovered near its weakest level in 40 years. Expectations that the gap between US and Japanese interest rates will widen because of higher inflation in the US have helped push the dollar higher against the yen. Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.3 per cent to 25,227.06, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.2 per cent to 3,859.69. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.7 per cent to 8,883.00. Taiwan's Taiex fell 1 per cent and India's Sensex lost 0.3 per cent. US futures fell after a subdued session on Wall Street. The S&P 500 edged 0.1 per cent lower to 7,498.96, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped less than 0.1 per cent to 52,218.58. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.6 per cent to 25,690.90 as Alphabet, Google's parent company, dropped 1.5 per cent ahead of its earnings report. The company later posted stronger-than-expected second-quarter results, a sign that its heavy spending on artificial intelligence is paying off so far, but its shares fell another 2.9 per cent in after-hours trading.Tesla fell 1.3 per cent on Wednesday and another 4.1 per cent in after-hours trading after the company said its profits fell last quarter as it spent more on research and development, cutting into earnings from a sharp rise in vehicle sales. Micron Technology swung between a loss of 3.6 per cent and a gain of 1.2 per cent before ending down 1.2 per cent. It had jumped 14.4 per cent in the first two days of the week, recovering nearly all of the 13.3 per cent fall from the previous week, and remains up 236 per cent for the year so far. Oil prices continued to weigh on markets because higher energy costs can squeeze company profits and hurt consumer spending. Early Thursday, Brent crude, the international benchmark, was up 2.2 per cent at USD 96.14 a barrel, its highest level since early June. It had dropped below USD 72 earlier this month, roughly where it stood before the war with Iran. But the continuing fighting is stopping oil tankers from using the Strait of Hormuz to leave the Persian Gulf. Normally, a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passes through the narrow waterway. The US benchmark crude rose 1.8 per cent to USD 88.35 a barrel.The US military said on Wednesday that it was carrying out a 12th straight night of strikes against Iran as both sides increasingly targeted civilian infrastructure. Higher oil prices are raising the risk that inflation may speed up again, which could lead the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates, slowing economic growth and hurting shares and other investments. The yield, or return, on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 4.65 per cent from 4.63 per cent late Tuesday and from 3.97 per cent before the war with Iran began. It has already helped push long-term US mortgage rates to their highest levels in nearly a year. In other early trading on Thursday, the euro rose to USD 1.1433 from USD 1.1414.Overall, Asian markets were largely in positive territory, supported by gains in technology shares, but the rise in oil prices and the fallout from the war with Iran kept pressure on global markets, inflation expectations and investor sentiment.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Jul 23, 2026 11:30 IST