[MARKET ANALYSIS] Asia-Pac stocks follow suit to the mixed performance stateside after US yields continued to climb, but with tech stocks boosted following strong Micron earnings

Sessions of this kind, where the region trades off a mixed US lead with yields rising despite a soft inflation print, typically resolve into a question of what is driving the rates move: stronger growth repricing tends to leave equities tolerant of higher yields, while supply or term-premium driven back-ups have historically pressured rate-sensitive sectors first, consistent with the energy, real estate and defensives underperformance in the ASX. The semiconductor read-across from a strong Micron print is a well-worn transmission channel: Asian chip names in the memory and equipment peer set tend to trade as a block on such results, which fits the Nikkei's chip-led rally and the KOSPI's late reversal. With Mainland China and Hong Kong shut, regional liquidity is thinned and price action carries less information about onshore sentiment, a pattern that has historically made APAC moves during the holiday prone to partial retracement on the reopen. The Tankan miss alongside weak activity data keeps the BoJ-patience framing intact, which has in past episodes capped yen downside and supported domestic equities via the currency channel rather than the rates one. The Korea investment pledge and tariff reduction fits the established sequence of bilateral announcements where headline figures are large but implementation details, timing and conditionality determine whether the initial equity response holds. The follow-ons are the US cash session's treatment of the yield move, any commentary on the financing side of the Korea pledge, and positioning ahead of the mainland reopen.