Asian shares mostly rise amid market optimism about AI, despite Iran worries

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose in early Thursday trading amid investor interest in technology-related issues, despite ongoing worries about the war in Iran.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 2.4% in morning trading to 68,355.81. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.7% to 8,638.10. South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.5% to 6,873.06. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.4% to 24,613.27, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.3% to 3,842.19.

In Tokyo trading, issues expected to get a boost from the solid demand in computer chips and AI-related growth have been rising in recent sessions, including Advantest Corp., Tokyo Electron and SoftBank Group Corp.

U.S. stocks mostly fell Wednesday, despite indications that the U.S. economy remains strong. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to close out its third losing month in the last four. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 443 points, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.2%.

The report that said inflation wasn’t as bad across the United States last month as economists expected. It said the cost of living for U.S. consumers was 3.4% higher overall in August than a year earlier. That was not as high as the 3.7% inflation rate that economists expected, even if it remained worse than the Fed’s 2% target.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 0.56% to $89.91 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.35% to $97.69 a barrel.

Oil prices have been swinging wildly in recent months amid uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the flow of crude to be fully restored. Iranian officials indicated Wednesday they have received an official U.S. response to Tehran’s latest proposal to end the seven-month war . The officials did not say what the latest response contained and whether it was a rejection.

U.S. President Donald Trump publicly rejected Iran's proposal just days earlier to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week if the U.S. meets certain conditions.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which is the centerpiece of the bond market, rose to 5.29%, up from 5.26% late Tuesday, and it’s back to where it was more than two decades ago in 2002.

The 30-year Treasury yield, which takes into account expectations for inflation and economic growth many years down the line, climbed to 5.64% from 5.59% late Tuesday.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 19.30 points to 7,651.54. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 443.87 to 50,906.05, and the Nasdaq composite added 63.52 to 26,861.06.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 158.17 Japanese yen from 157.33 yen. The euro cost $1.1328, down from $1.1334.

AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama