World shares are mixed as tech stocks in Japan and South Korea extend
losses
[June 29, 2026] By
CHAN HO-HIM
HONG KONG (AP) — World shares were mixed on Monday and U.S. futures
advanced after stocks on Wall Street steadied with only modest losses
last week.
Benchmarks in Japan and South Korea recovered most of their earlier
declines in a day weighed on by more selling of artificial
intelligence-related shares.
Oil prices rose after tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated over
the weekend as Tehran launched fresh drone and missile attacks on
Bahrain and Kuwait in response to new U.S. airstrikes, adding to
uncertainties clouding the global economic outlook.
In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.2% to 10,487.85.
Germany's DAX edged 0.1% higher to 24,694.28. France's CAC 40 slipped
0.4% to 8,349.65.
The future for the S&P 500 surged 0.7% while that for the Dow Jones
Industrial Average gained 0.4%.
In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi ended 0.2% lower at 8,394.65, narrowing a
sharper decline earlier in the day after the country announced plans for
investments of more than $500 billion in a computer chip manufacturing
hub in the country's southwestern region by Samsung and SK Hynix.
Samsung Electronics sank 4.8%, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix fell
1.7%.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.2% higher at 69,468.11, reversing earlier
losses. SoftBank Group, the multinational investment holding company
which invests in OpenAI, sank 5.3% following a 12.5% drop on Friday.
Taiwan’s Taiex, also a beneficiary of the global AI boom thanks to its
many tech companies including chipmaker TSMC, gained 1% after falling
3.6% on Friday.
Japan’s and South Korea’s markets have soared as many of their Big Tech
firms were lifted by demand for computer chips and other high-valued
components used in artificial intelligence. Recent worries over AI
valuations have trimmed some of those gains.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.6% to 23,026.68, while the Shanghai
Composite index added 1.2% to 4,073.90. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose
0.7% to 8,823.40.
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A huge screen shows the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI)
and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean
won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday,
June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
 India’s Sensex fell 0.5%.
On Friday, the worries over AI rolled through Wall Street, though
shares ended mixed. The S&P 500 lost less than 0.1% and the
technology-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 0.2%. The Dow fell 0.1%.
Micron Technology’s shares dropped 6.7%, Intel was down 3.4%, Nvidia
fell 1.6% and AMD, or Advanced Micro Devices, fell 2.1%.
In other dealings early Monday, Brent crude, the international
standard, was up 0.9% to $73.25 a barrel. It sold for about $72 a
barrel before the war began. Benchmark U.S. crude gained 1.2% to
$70.06 a barrel.
There’s still plenty of risk facing the oil market, ING commodities
strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said in a commentary
Monday, as more questions were raised about the safety of ships in
the Strait of Hormuz following attacks on vessels.
Oil traders have been “too optimistic” about the timeline for a
recovery in Persian Gulf supplies, they said.
“This complacency is odd and clearly leaves significant upside risk
if the supply recovery proves slow — or if we see significant
re-escalation,” the commentary said.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 161.90 Japanese yen
from 161.71 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1399, up from $1.1385.
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