Asia shares retreat from record as Apple price hikes rain on chip parade

SYDNEY: Asian shares pulled back on Friday after ​a stellar quarter, as Apple’s hefty price hikes revealed the downside of booming chip demand, while the threat of Japanese intervention kept the ‌yen from hitting 40-year lows.

Oil prices fell toward their lowest in fourth months, with Brent crude futures down 1.9% to $73.9 a barrel, as Saudi Aramco resumed oil loading at its Ras Tanura terminal after a halt of almost four months. More stranded oil tankers have crossed the Strait of Hormuz with the help of military escorts, although a cargo ship was hit by a projectile.

Nasdaq ​futures tumbled 1.7% in Asia, as investor sentiment soured after a media report that OpenAI is considering holding off on its public debut until next ​year. European bourses are bracing for a much lower open, with pan-region stock futures sliding 1%.

Shares of Apple slid 6.1% overnight ⁠after the tech giant announced price increases for iPads and MacBooks to counter the surging cost of memory and storage chips.

That wiped about $250 billion off of ​its market value. Microsoft is raising prices for its Xbox gaming consoles by up to $150 worldwide.

The price increases tempered investor enthusiasm about a blowout earnings report from chipmaker Micron ​this week, whose shares surged almost 16% overnight to a record high.

“Apple’s price increases were a reflection of how the big tech may at some point start to feel the pain of these higher component costs, and that can become a broader ecosystem headwind,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo.

“That is why markets are becoming more cautious. Higher input costs, ​heavier capex needs and rising funding demands are making investors more selective about AI exposure.”

Analysts also say that month-end and quarter-end rebalancing flows might have contributed ​to the weakness and choppy prices in big tech companies, which have outperformed for much of the second quarter.

On Friday, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 3.8%, ‌bringing its weekly ⁠loss to 5.4%, as investors took profits from a record run.

While it was down 3.7% for the month, the index was up a whopping 21% for the quarter.

Japan’s Nikkei slumped 5% and was headed for a weekly drop of 3.6%. It has climbed 3.5% for the month and surged 34% for the quarter.

South Korea’s KOSPI tumbled 8.2%, triggering a circuit breaker that halted trading for 20 minutes. It was down 9.4% for the week, but still managed a monstrous 62% gain for ​the quarter.

Chinese blue-chips fell 2.9% and Hong ​Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 2.4%.

Yen ⁠weak

In the currency markets, the yen teetered near its weakest level against the dollar in 40 years at 161.73, well beyond the 160 level that many see as a line in the sand for Japanese authorities.

It found little relief even as a ​U.S. inflation reading met forecasts and traders trimmed bets for a rate hike from the Federal Reserve in September.

Separate data ​also showed the U.S. economy ⁠grew faster than previously estimated in the first quarter thanks to a downward revision to imports, but consumer spending almost stalled, casting doubt on growth momentum in the second quarter.

The dollar index , which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major peers, held at 101.46, not far from its strongest level since May 2025. It ⁠has risen 2.6% ​this month.

Treasury yields were steady on Friday after slipping a little overnight. 2-year yields held at ​4.1250%, having eased 2 basis points on Thursday, while ten-year yields were little changed at 4.4020%, having hit a nearly two-month low of 4.3627% in the previous session.

Precious metals have had a rough ​month, with spot gold down 12% to $3,992 an ounce and spot silver sliding 25% to $56.3 an ounce.