HONG KONG \u2013 Asian markets were mixed on Monday and U.S. futures advanced after stocks on Wall Street steadied with only modest losses last week. <\/p>\n
Benchmarks in Japan and South Korea recovered most of their earlier losses in a day weighed on by more selling of artificial intelligence-related<\/a> shares.<\/p>\n Oil prices rose after tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated<\/a> over the weekend as Iran 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.<\/p>\n In Asia, South Korea\u2019s Kospi ended 0.2% lower to 8,394.65, narrowing a sharper decline earlier in the day after the country announced plan<\/a> s for investments of more than $500 billion in a computer chip manufacturing hub in the country’s southwestern region. Samsung Electronics sank 4.8%, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix fell 1.7%.<\/p>\n Tokyo\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Taiwan\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Japan\u2019s and South Korea\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng gained 1.8% to 23,088.51, while the Shanghai Composite index added 1.2% to 4,073.90. Australia\u2019s S&P\/ASX 200 rose 0.7% to 8,823.40.<\/p>\n India\u2019s Sensex fell 0.6%.<\/p>\n On Friday, the worries over AI rolled through Wall Street, though shares ended mixed. The S&P 500 lost less than 0.1% to 7,354.02 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 0.2% to 25.297.62. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 51,876.11.<\/p>\n Micron Technology\u2019s shares dropped 6.7%, Intel was down 3.4%, Nvidia fell 1.6% and AMD, or Advanced Micro Devices, fell 2.1%.<\/p>\n In other dealings early Monday, Brent crude, the international standard, was up 0.6% to $73.24 a barrel. It sold for about $72 a barrel before the war began. Benchmark U.S. crude gained 0.8% to $70.04 a barrel.<\/p>\n There\u2019s 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<\/a> following attacks on vessels<\/a>.<\/p>\n