MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped ​0.8%

Asian shares skidded on Thursday as ​investors rotated out of chipmakers following a stellar quarter, while currency and bond markets braced for U.S. jobs data that ‌could give hints about the risk of interest rate hikes.

Oil prices hit new four-month lows, with Brent crude down 0.8% to $71 a barrel, as U.S. president said talks with Iran had gone well in Qatar, and as more oil tankers transited through the Strait of Hormuz.

On Thursday, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped ​0.8%, while Nikkei also declined 1.1%, adding to losses from the first day of the quarter.

KOSPI dipped 2.7%, extending ​a 2% decline from Wednesday. That followed a 68% surge in the second quarter on surging AI-related demand ⁠for memory chips.

SK Hynix slumped 7.7% and Samsung tumbled 6.2%. That followed a report that Meta Platforms is building a cloud business to sell excess ​AI computing capacity, which sent the Facebook owner’s shares up 8.8% overnight.

Hang Seng bucked the trend in Asia with a gain of ​1.8%.

Foreign investors sold Asian equities at the fastest pace in at least 16 years in the first half of 2026, as the AI-driven rally forced them to trim their biggest winners in South Korea and Taiwan and hunt for lower-priced laggards.

In currency markets, the euro slipped 0.4% overnight against the U.S. currency after European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said inflation and growth risks were now becoming more broadly balanced. The euro was steady in ⁠Asian hours ​on Thursday at $1.1379.

The yen was little changed at 162.59 per dollar, having hit a ​new 40-year low of 162.84 on Wednesday.