HONG KONG (AP) \u2014 Oil prices gained Wednesday and Asian shares were mostly trading lower as South Korea\u2019s Kospi extended its losses after falling more than 16% over the past two days led by artificial intelligence-related stocks.<\/p>\n
Crude prices remain volatile after the U.S. said early Thursday it had conducted a \u201cheavy wave\u201d of strikes against Iran<\/a>, responding to an attack on a U.S. base.<\/p>\n U.S. futures edged higher after losses on Wall Street<\/a>.<\/p>\n In South Korea, recent drops in its benchmark Kospi, a big beneficiary of the global boom in AI<\/a>, have been seen by some analysts as a reflection of broader doubts about massive investments<\/a> by technology giants in expanding AI capacity.<\/p>\n The Kospi was swinging on Thursday and ended 1.2% lower at 5,593.56, after falling 10.8% on Tuesday and nearly 6% on Wednesday. The benchmark has fallen more than 38% from its all-time closing high of more than 9,100 in June, though it\u2019s still up nearly 30% so far this year.<\/p>\n Samsung Electronics fell 0.7%, even after the South Korean technology giant reported a record operating profit<\/a> for the latest quarter, largely in line with estimates.<\/p>\n Chipmaker SK Hynix lost 5.6% after sinking more than 9% on Wednesday, when it also reported a record quarterly operating profit, which ballooned nearly sixfold. That was still lower than what analysts had expected and disappointed investors dumped its shares.<\/p>\n In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.7% to 61,867.43, recovering some of its losses after falling 1.5% a day earlier. Open-AI investor SoftBank Group fell 2.5%. But computer chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron climbed 4.5%. Memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings added 2.9%.<\/p>\n Taiwan\u2019s Taiex, which was also lifted by the AI boom, closed 0.3% lower. Its leading chipmaker TSMC edged up 0.2%.<\/p>\n AI stocks including in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan have faced volatility over doubts about tech firms\u2019 massive spendings on AI infrastructure and if that can generate sustainable returns, said Chi Lo, senior market strategist of Asia-Pacific at BNP Paribas Asset Management, in a commentary Thursday.<\/p>\n The recent realization \u201cof China\u2019s AI as a serious competitor to the current AI market leaders has triggered (and) aggravated these concerns again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng edged up 0.2% to 25,857.11. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.7% to 3,801.67.<\/p>\n