ASIA MIDDAY MOVES | Seoul's KOSPI Climbs Over 1% on Chip Strength as Hong Kong Holds Flat, Tokyo Slips

According to RTHK, Yonhap and HKET, Asian equities were mixed at midday Wednesday as escalating Middle East tensions pushed Brent crude toward $100 a barrel and the yen held near a seven-month high around 154 per dollar, tempering risk appetite even as memory-chip names extended their run. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 eased in the afternoon session, trading at 65,123.01, down 0.22% or 146.32 points, as of 04:32 UTC, weighed by chip-equipment makers. Advantest fell 3.20% and Tokyo Electron declined 1.22%, while Sony was little changed, up 0.08%. Seoul's KOSPI outperformed, up 1.12% or 77.98 points at 7,032.50 as of 04:32 UTC, lifted by memory demand optimism. SK Hynix rose 3.35% and Samsung Electronics added 0.19%. Hong Kong stocks were flat by the lunch break, with the Hang Seng Index at 25,316.87, virtually unchanged, and the Hang Seng Tech Index down 0.58%. Lenovo gained more than 5% and Baidu rose over 3%, while Meituan fell 2.73%, Xiaomi lost 2.30% and NetEase dropped over 2%. Optical-communications names bucked the trade, with Haiguang Xinzheng up more than 10% as the China International Optoelectronic Expo opened in Shenzhen. Haidilao slid more than 9% after reports of a HK$2.75 billion block sale, while Li Auto fell over 3%. Newly listed UDROID Robotics surged nearly 160% on its trading debut. Taiwan's TAIEX advanced 0.23% or 107.59 points to 47,213.37 as of 04:32 UTC, with the multi-head structure intact. Optical-communications shares climbed, with Genius Electronic Optics (Yujingguang) hitting limit-up at a record high, while MediaTek eased 1.27% after a pullback from recent highs. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.24% to 3,949.89 at the midday break, while the Shenzhen Component slipped 0.06% to 13,694.33 and the ChiNext Index fell 0.34% to 3,348.29. Official data showed August CPI up 0.8% year-on-year and PPI rising 3.8%.