On Thursday, the majority of Asia-Pacific markets experienced declines following a lower close on US Market, influenced by escalating geopolitical tensions and remarks from U.S. President Donald Trump. U.S. defense stocks experienced a decline following Trump’s assertion that he “will not permit” defense companies to distribute dividends or engage in stock buybacks until they rectify his concerns regarding the industry, which encompass executive compensation and production challenges. Oil prices experienced a decline overnight following Trump’s announcement that Venezuela’s interim authorities would transfer up to 50 million barrels of crude to the U.S., which has sparked worries regarding a potential rise in global supply. Brent crude futures experienced a decline of 0.51%, settling at $60.39 per barrel, whereas U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude saw an increase of 0.61%, reaching $56.33 per barrel, as of 7.30 am.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index declined by 1.63%, impacted by the performance of basic materials and technology stocks. Among the most significant decliners were SoftBank, which experienced a decline of 7.59%, and Tokyo Electron, a key supplier of chipmaking equipment to foundries producing Nvidia’s chips, which fell by 4.01%. The broader Topix index experienced a decline of 0.77%. South Korea’s Kospi concluded just above the neutral point at 4,552.37, whereas the small-cap Kosdaq experienced a decline of 0.35%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 concluded the trading session with an increase of 0.29%, reaching a level of 8,720.8. BlueScope Steel’s shares experienced a decline of 1.57% following the company’s dismissal of a $9 billion acquisition proposal from U.S.-based Steel Dynamics, which, in turn, saw its stock decrease by 1.92%. On Thursday afternoon, BlueScope’s largest shareholder, AustralianSuper, raised its voting stake in the steel firm to 13.52%, up from 12.5%, as indicated in a filing released after market hours.

The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong experienced a decline of 1.59%, primarily driven by losses in the basic materials and technology sectors. Lenovo Group experienced a decline of 3.44%, Kuaishou Technology saw a decrease of 2.85%, and Baidu recorded a drop of 2.76%. The mainland’s CSI 300 experienced a decline of 1.04%. Shares of Knowledge Atlas Technology JSC, commonly referred to as Zhipu, experienced an increase of up to 15% upon their debut in Hong Kong, subsequent to a $558 million initial public offering, marking it as the inaugural entity among China’s “AI tigers” to enter the public market. India’s Nifty 50 experienced a decline of 0.83%, whereas the BSE Sensex index recorded a decrease of 0.63%.

U.S. equity futures exhibited minimal fluctuations during the early hours of Asian trading, following the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s cessation of a three-day winning streak. In the overnight session, the broad market index experienced a decline of approximately 0.3%, while the Dow recorded a drop of 466 points, translating to roughly 0.9%. The Nasdaq Composite, characterized by its technology focus, experienced an increase of nearly 0.2%, bolstered by a notable 2.4% rise in Alphabet, the parent company of Google, which resulted in its market capitalization exceeding that of Apple for the first occasion since 2019.