Asian stocks mostly decline on a sell-off of chip shares

Asian stock markets mostly declined on Thursday as a sell-off of semiconductor shares continued. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.3% to 39,845.32 points. South Korea's KOSPI dropped 0.5% to 2,789.12 points. Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.2% to 18,456.78 points. China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.1% to 3,234.56 points.

Taiwan's TSMC shares fell 1.2%, and South Korea's Samsung Electronics dropped 0.8%. This followed a sell-off of semiconductor shares in the U.S., where the Nasdaq 100 fell 1.5% on Wednesday.

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.1% to 104.56 points. Oil prices fell: Brent crude dropped 0.3% to $85.67 per barrel, and WTI fell 0.4% to $82.34 per barrel.

Investors are watching rising tensions between Iran and Israel, which could impact global markets.