[MARKET ANALYSIS] APAC stocks mostly lower despite Wall St gains as AI/semis names come under pressure; KOSPI and Hang Seng lag, BoK holds

APAC Stocks: Negative

• Asia-Pac stocks are mostly lower despite the positive lead from Wall Street, where the Nasdaq outperformed, with AI and semiconductor names pressured after Lam Research fell around 6% after-hours and US equity futures retreated. Middle East headlines also remain in focus, with reports of Iranian missiles launched towards the Strait of Hormuz and the NYT reporting that the US and Israel have developed plans for renewed strikes on Iran after the US midterms.

ASX 200: -0.5%

• Lower, with energy and retail stocks leading the declines while miners and banks also struggle. Nick Scali slumped around 15% after its profit warning, weighing on retailers including Harvey Norman, Wesfarmers, JB Hi-Fi and Super Retail, while Woodside fell around 4%.

Nikkei 225: -0.7%

• Lower, with AI and semiconductor stocks under pressure as Lam Research's after-hours slide weighed on US chip names, while softer US equity futures also dented sentiment. Tokyo Electron, SoftBank Group and Ibiden are among the decliners, while Advantest turned lower after initial gains.

KOSPI: -1.9%

• Underperforms, giving back some of Wednesday's 3.3% surge as investors weigh concerns over the profitability of AI infrastructure investment, with LG Energy Solution among the laggards; Samsung Electro-Mechanics outperforms, with the Co. announcing overnight that it is joining NVIDIA's substrate supply chain. The BoK unanimously held rates at 3.00%, as expected, and noted stock price volatility has increased amid concerns over slowing semiconductor sector profitability and investment.

Hang Seng & Shanghai Comp: Hang Seng -1.9% / Shanghai Comp -0.8%

• Hong Kong underperforms, extending Wednesday's losses, as mainland tech stocks are sold amid uncertainty over China's economic outlook. The mainland gave up a slightly firmer open, with the Shanghai Comp near YTD lows.

US Equity Futures: Negative

• NQ (-0.8%) underperforms, with ES (-0.4%), RTY (-0.4%) and YM (-0.2%) also lower. After-hours, Lam Research fell around 6%, while Meta, IBM and Texas Instruments rose; Bloomberg reported SpaceX and Tesla are pushing for a merger deal by H1 2027.

European Equity Futures: -0.5%

• Indicate a negative open, with Euro Stoxx 50 futures -0.5% after the cash market closed +1.5% on Wednesday.

A session of this shape, where an after-hours guide or slide from a single large US chip equipment name reprices the entire APAC semiconductor complex, has been a recurring feature of crowded AI positioning: the transmission runs through the equipment-to-foundry supply chain first, then to index-heavy Korean and Japanese names, with the laggards concentrated where retail and foreign momentum ownership is thickest. The KOSPI underperformance alongside a central bank explicitly flagging semiconductor profitability concerns follows the familiar pattern of a hold paired with financial-stability-flavoured commentary, a combination that historically leans against near-term easing expectations without committing to anything. The Hang Seng and Shanghai split, with the mainland near year-to-date lows while offshore tech leads the selling, is consistent with episodes where the pressure is positioning and sentiment rather than a fresh policy signal. The Hormuz missile reports sit in the established category of headlines that lift crude and freight insurance premia intraday but fade unless physical flows are interrupted; the distinction that matters is between launches and actual disruption to tanker traffic. Follow-ons worth noting are whether the US chip weakness is confirmed or reversed when the cash session opens, whether the BoK commentary hardens into guidance, and any confirmation or denial on the reported strike plans, since geopolitical premia of this kind tend to decay quickly on denial and build on confirmation.