Asian markets ended mixed on Wednesday, with Chinese and Hong Kong shares declined on escalated US-Iran tensions following Washington’s strikes in southern Iran. China punished three brokerages for illegally offering mainland Chinese investors access to overseas stocks trading without onshore licenses in an escalating attempt to control cross-border capital flows. Kospi index surged to fresh record highs as the global AI-driven semiconductor rally boosted investor appetite for Korean technology shares. South Korea's SK Hynix crossed $1 trillion market-value threshold for the first time. Japanese shares ended flat, while yen weakened beyond 159 per dollar after BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda warned that central banks should not assess oil price movements in isolation. Meanwhile, stock markets of Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia were closed for public holidays.
| Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
| Shanghai Composite | 4,093.73 | -51.65 | -1.25 |
| Hang Seng | 25,328.23 | -271.22 | -1.06 |
| Jakarta Composite | -- | -- | -- |
| KLSE Composite | -- | -- | -- |
| Nikkei 225 | 64,999.41 | 3.32 | 0.01 |
| Straits Times | -- | -- | -- |
| KOSPI Composite | 8,228.70 | 181.19 | 2.25 |
| Taiwan Weighted | 44,256.80 | 731.43 | 1.68 |
