(Updates prices as selloff deepens in Asia)

* Japan's Nikkei slumps nearly 5%, South Korea's KOSPI down

8%

* Selloff comes after big gains for the quarter to record

highs

* Nasdaq futures skid 1.7%, yen languishes near 40-year lows

* Oil falls towards four-month lows; gold down 12% this

month

By Stella Qiu

SYDNEY, June 26 (Reuters) - Asian shares pulled back on

Friday after a stellar quarter, as Apple's ( AAPL ) hefty price hikes

revealed the downside of booming chip demand, while the threat

of Japanese intervention kept the yen from hitting 40-year

lows.

Oil prices fell toward their lowest in fourth months, with Brent

crude futures down 1.9% to $73.9 a barrel, as Saudi

Aramco resumed oil loading at its Ras Tanura terminal after a

halt of almost four months. More stranded oil tankers have

crossed the Strait of Hormuz with the help of military escorts,

although a cargo ship was hit by a projectile.

Nasdaq futures tumbled 1.7% in Asia, as investor

sentiment soured after a media report that OpenAI is considering

holding off on its public debut until next year. European

bourses are bracing for a much lower open, with pan-region stock

futures sliding 1%.

Shares of Apple ( AAPL ) slid 6.1% overnight after the tech

giant announced price increases for iPads and MacBooks to

counter the surging cost of memory and storage chips. That wiped

about $250 billion off of its market value. Microsoft ( MSFT )

is raising prices for its Xbox gaming consoles by up to $150

worldwide.

The price increases tempered investor enthusiasm about a

blowout earnings report from chipmaker Micron this week,

whose shares surged almost 16% overnight to a record high.

"Apple's ( AAPL ) price increases were a reflection of how the big tech

may at some point start to feel the pain of these higher

component costs, and that can become a broader ecosystem

headwind," said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at

Saxo.

"That is why markets are becoming more cautious. Higher input

costs, heavier capex needs and rising funding demands are making

investors more selective about AI exposure."

Analysts also say that month-end and quarter-end rebalancing

flows might have contributed to the weakness and choppy prices

in big tech companies, which have outperformed for much of the

second quarter.

On Friday, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares

outside Japan fell 3.8%, bringing its weekly

loss to 5.4%, as investors took profits from a record run. While

it was down 3.7% for the month, the index was up a whopping 21%

for the quarter.

Japan's Nikkei slumped 5% and was headed for a weekly

drop of 3.6%. It has climbed 3.5% for the month and surged 34%

for the quarter.

South Korea's KOSPI tumbled 8.2%, triggering a

circuit breaker that halted trading for 20 minutes. It was down

9.4% for the week, but still managed a monstrous 62% gain for

the quarter.

Chinese blue-chips fell 2.9% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng

index lost 2.4%.

YEN WEAK

In the currency markets, the yen teetered near its

weakest level against the dollar in 40 years at 161.73, well

beyond the 160 level that many see as a line in the sand for

Japanese authorities.

It found little relief even as a U.S. inflation reading met

forecasts and traders trimmed bets for a rate hike from the

Federal Reserve in September.

Separate data also showed the U.S. economy grew faster than

previously estimated in the first quarter thanks to a downward

revision to imports, but consumer spending almost stalled,

casting doubt on growth momentum in the second quarter.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback's

strength against a basket of six major peers, held at 101.46,

not far from its strongest level since May 2025. It has risen

2.6% this month.

Treasury yields were steady on Friday after slipping a

little overnight. 2-year yields held at 4.1250%,

having eased 2 basis points on Thursday, while ten-year yields

were little changed at 4.4020%, having hit a nearly

two-month low of 4.3627% in the previous session.

Precious metals have had a rough month, with spot gold

down 12% to $3,992 an ounce and spot silver sliding 25%

to $56.3 an ounce.