Asian stocks fall as oil soars and yields weigh; Samsung declines despite record profit By Investing.com

Investing.com– Asian stocks fell broadly on Thursday as surging oil prices and high U.S. Treasury yields pressured risk appetite, while South Korea’s shares fell. Samsung Electronics slipped despite forecasting its highest quarterly profit on record.

The weakness follows a quieter session on Wall Street on Wednesday, ending a four-day winning streak for and and a five-day winning streak for .

U.S. stock futures also fell slightly on Thursday at 2:09 a.m. ET (06:09 GMT).

Samsung declines despite forecast for record profits and continues to fall

South Korea’s KOSPI index slipped nearly 2%, with its shares losing 1.5%.

Samsung shares fell even after the world’s largest memory chip maker forecast third-quarter operating profit of 107.4 trillion won ($80.2 billion), up 782.5 percent from a year earlier, but missed Bloomberg’s forecast of 108.67 trillion won.

The estimate marks the first time a technology company has forecast a quarterly operating profit above 100 trillion won and is driven by strong demand for memory chips used in artificial intelligence applications.

Investors seemed more concerned about the sustainability of the semiconductor boom, with Samsung shares having already rebounded sharply this year.

Oil prices added to the pressure on stocks. rose nearly 3% above $102 a barrel on concerns over supply disruptions in the Middle East, including increased tensions around the Strait of Hormuz.

A report from Axios showed that the Pentagon has asked the US military to complete preparations for a possible resumption of major combat operations in Iran.

U.S. Treasury yields remained near multi-decade highs after the benchmark briefly climbed to 5.36% on Wednesday, its highest level since 2002, before a sharp Treasury auction pushed it back.

Rising yields have increased the opportunity cost of holding stocks and have particularly weighed on technology stocks.

Nikkei falls; Singapore leads losses with a 3% decline

Singapore’s fell 3.6%, reaching its lowest level since mid-July.

That of Japan fell by 1%, while that of the rest of the world fell by 1.2%.

Mainland Chinese markets also resumed trading after a week-long National Day Golden Week holiday, returning to a global market backdrop marked by high yields and renewed geopolitical risks.

China fell 1%, while star stocks fell 1.2%.

Hong Kong’s fell 1.1%, with the sub-index sliding more than 2%.

Elsewhere, Australia’s fell 0.8%, while India’s lost 1%.

Investors also looked at minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting, which showed most policymakers view another interest rate hike as likely by the end of the year, although officials stressed they would remain dependent on the data.

Markets have priced in only about a 19% chance of a hike in October, but about an 80% chance of a hike in December.