Japanese Yen Rebounds as Trump Flags Currency Weakness 
Gold Slides Below $4,300 as Oil Surge Fuels Fed Rate Hike Bets 
Trump to Ease U.S. Fuel-Economy Standards 
RBA Set for September Rate Hike as Inflation Stays High 
US Comfortable With Canada Trade Standoff as Import Bans Loom 
Dollar Holds Near Two-Month High as Yen Approaches 160 
Asian Currencies Weaken as Dollar, Oil Prices Rise 
Canadian Dollar Faces Pressure as Fed-BoC Policy Gap Widens 
China Industrial Profit Growth Slows as Weak Demand Offsets AI Gains 
ECB May Stop Rate Hikes After December, Capital Economics Says 
China Agrees to Buy 20 Million Tons of U.S. Coal 
South Korea Tax Windfall Could Top 50 Trillion Won on Chip Boom 
BlackRock’s Rick Rieder Favors Bonds Over Stocks as Treasury Yields Surge 
Asian Chip Stocks Tumble as OpenAI Safety Pause Sparks AI Growth Concerns 
China Consumer Stocks Near Decade Lows as AI Shares Surge 
Europe’s AI Data Centre Boom Strengthens Case for Nuclear Power 
Fed’s Hammack Says Bond Yield Surge Is Not Driven by Inflation Fears 
Add as a preferred source on Google
Asian stock markets mostly declined on Monday as rising oil prices, elevated global bond yields and renewed uncertainty over a potential U.S.-Iran truce dampened investor sentiment. Semiconductor stocks faced additional pressure after OpenAI paused some advanced artificial intelligence model activity to strengthen safety controls.
South Korea’s KOSPI dropped around 2%, while China’s CSI 300 fell more than 2% and the Shanghai Composite lost 1.7%. India’s Nifty 50 declined over 1%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was broadly flat, while the TOPIX edged slightly lower.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng bucked the regional trend with a roughly 0.6% gain. Singapore’s Straits Times Index also advanced 0.6%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added about 0.3%.
Oil prices climbed after U.S. President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, although talks were reportedly expected to continue this week. Brent crude futures rose more than 2% to above $106 per barrel, extending September gains beyond 18%.
Higher energy prices intensified concerns that inflation could remain elevated, potentially keeping global interest rates higher for longer. The U.S. 30-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.5185%, near its highest level since 2004, while the 10-year yield remained above 5%. Markets were pricing roughly a 66% probability of another Federal Reserve rate increase in October, according to CME FedWatch.
Asian semiconductor shares suffered some of the steepest losses. SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics dropped nearly 5% each, while Japan’s Kioxia Holdings fell 2.5%. SMIC declined 3.6% in Hong Kong and Hua Hong Semiconductor slid 4.8%.
Chip stocks weakened after OpenAI paused training, evaluation and inference involving tool use for some of its most capable AI models while reviewing safety measures. The move raised concerns that slower AI development could eventually affect demand for advanced semiconductors, servers and data-center infrastructure.
Investors are also awaiting Tuesday’s Reserve Bank of Australia decision, with markets expecting a 25-basis-point rate hike. U.S. inflation, manufacturing and labor-market data will also be closely watched this week alongside developments involving the Strait of Hormuz.
