Asian shares mostly slip amid caution about the war in Iran

TOKYO -- Asian shares mostly declined Tuesday, as recent enthusiasm cooled and markets faced uncertainty about efforts to end the war in Iran.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 3.6% to finish at 69,788.38.

“We’ve had eight days of strong markets,” said Neil Newman, Managing Director, Head of Strategy at Astris Advisory Japan. “Now it has cooled off a bit.”

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.3% in afternoon trading at 8,787.00. South Korea's Kospi dipped 1.0% to 8,203.84. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 2.1% to 23,261.96, while the Shanghai Composite shed 1.3% to 4,107.18.

On Wall Street, stocks drifted through a mixed day of trading on Monday after oil prices eased and Big Tech stocks declined.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.4%, coming off 11 winning weeks in the last 12, and pulled 1.8% below its all-time high set early this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 148 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite slumped 1.3%.

In the oil market, prices fell following talks over the weekend between the United States and Iran on their war. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said they created a “good foundation for a successful final deal.”

An end to the war could open the Strait of Hormuz for oil tankers and allow for the full resumption of deliveries from the Persian Gulf. Iran’s military said Saturday that it had closed the strait again, though U.S. Central Command has disputed that.

On Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.14 to $72.72 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost $1.31 to $76.59 a barrel.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.50% from 4.46%. Yields have been climbing because of speculation the Federal Reserve may hike interest rates this year to keep a lid on inflation, which has been accelerating because of expensive oil caused by the Iran war. Economists expect a report on Thursday to show a measure of inflation for U.S. consumers sped up to 4.1% in May from 3.8% in April.

SpaceX fell 16.4% to $154.60, the third straight drop for the company behind xAI since a big three-day run following its ballyhooed debut on the U.S. stock market, when it initially sold its stock at $135 per share.

The day’s heaviest weights on the S&P 500 included drops of 5% for Alphabet, 4.7% for Amazon and 4.5% for Broadcom.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 27.79 points to 7,472.79. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 148.01 to 51,712.71, and the Nasdaq composite fell 351.33 to 26,166.60.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 161.68 Japanese yen from 161.52 yen. The euro cost $1.1426, down from $1.1431.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe in New York and AP Senior Producer Mayuko Ono in Tokyo contributed to this report.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama