06:37 AM EDT, 07/02/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets largely fell back Thursday, following overnight declines on Wall Street of chip benchmarks Micron Technology (MU) and Intel (INTC), on growing concerns that heavy capital spending in the tech sector will erode bottom lines.

Traders cooled on semiconductor issues after media reports that Meta Platforms (META) may sell access to its AI computing infrastructure, perhaps indicating the social media giant has built more AI capacity than it needs.

Shanghai and Tokyo finished in the red, although Hong Kong notched a gain. Seoul led regional losers with a 7.9% decline on the KOSPI index, with heavyweights Samsung Electronics sinking 9.1%, and SK Hynix falling 14.6%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened sharply lower and could not recover, finishing off 2.5% as traders reassessed AI- and semiconductor-related plays.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 1,741.81 to 68,733.15, although gaining issues outnumbered losers 170 to 52, as declines were somewhat limited to tech issues.

Leading the upside was drugmaker Otsuka, up 8.7%, while memory chipmaker Kioxia declined 13.5%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened higher and held ground, undergirded by property issues.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 174.01 to 23,055.03, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 72 to 21. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 0.8% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 3.3%.

Leading the upside was CSPC Pharmaceutical, gaining 8.3%, while Semiconductor Manufacturing International declined 10.1%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite fell 2% to 4,028.90.

On the other regional exchanges, the Taiwan TWSE declined 0.6%; the Australian ASX 200 was steady; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 1.1%, and the Thai Set advanced 0.3%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.8%

MSCI All Country Asia Pacific Index fell 1.4% on the day.