HONG KONG - Asian equities traded mostly lower on Thursday as oil prices eased despite continued exchanges of strikes involving the United States and Iran.

U.S. stock futures pointed modestly higher at the open.

Heavy selling in artificial intelligence linked shares pressured indexes in South Korea and Japan.

The Bank of Korea raised interest rates for the first time since 2023 to combat inflation tied to the conflict, sending the Kospi tumbling 6.6 percent to 6,816.70.

Memory chip producer SK Hynix plunged 11.2 percent and Samsung Electronics declined 8.2 percent.

Taiwan Taiex slipped 0.3 percent ahead of earnings from chip foundry TSMC, viewed as a key indicator for the semiconductor sector and artificial intelligence demand.

Tokyo Nikkei 225 retreated 2.9 percent to 66,767.64. Japanese memory chip firm Kioxia sank 13.5 percent, equipment maker Tokyo Electron fell 5.2 percent and tester Advantest lost 5.6 percent.

SoftBank Group dropped 6.4 percent.

Hong Kong Hang Seng bucked the trend, rising 1.7 percent to 25,111.22. Alibaba shares gained 4.4 percent after Chinese regulators approved Apple Intelligence tools for use in the country, with the Qwen model set to integrate into the platform.

Shanghai Composite eased 0.9 percent to 3,921.20.

Australia S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.2 percent to 8,820.50 while India Sensex advanced 0.3 percent.

Oil prices opened lower yet remained elevated after the United States stepped up strikes on Iran and Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain.

Brent crude fell 0.4 percent to 84.55 dollars per barrel, up sharply from around 72 dollars in late February before hostilities began. U.S. benchmark crude slipped 0.2 percent to 79.34 dollars.

ING strategists noted oil prices posted a third straight session of gains with little sign of de-escalation, adding that tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz faces continued pressure.

Wall Street closed higher Wednesday with the S&P 500 up 0.4 percent at 7,572.40, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.3 percent to 52,658.64 and the Nasdaq composite rising 0.6 percent to 26,269.23.

SpaceX shares briefly traded below their 135 dollar IPO price before recovering some ground. A cooler than expected U.S. inflation reading for June and strong results from BlackRock, whose shares jumped 6.6 percent, supported the rally.

The dollar eased to 162.09 yen from 162.19 yen while the euro slipped to 1.1467 dollars from 1.1464 dollars.