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%.
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