Asia stocks mixed amid Iran uncertainty.
Asian stocks were a mixed bag on Tuesday as investors grappled with contrasting signals on the U.S.-Iran conflict, while Japanese and South Korean markets fell from record highs.
Regional markets took a positive lead-in from Wall Street, which hit record highs overnight on persistent strength in chipmaking stocks. But this momentum was seen fading by early Tuesday, with S&P 500 Futures down 0.4% in Asian trade.
Mixed signals on the Iran conflict also weighed, especially after a report late-Monday said Tehran had stopped communicating with the U.S. through mediators.
But U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that talks remained ongoing and that he expected a deal in the next week.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s KOSPI were the worst performers in Asia, with both indexes falling about 2% each from record highs.
Chipmakers and tech shares, which had driven a bulk of recent gains in the two, were the largest weights on the indexes on Tuesday.
Chip stocks in particular faced profit-taking after a stellar rally through May on optimism over artificial intelligence. Market darling Nvidia’s unveiling of more AI products on Monday added to this rally.
Gold prices rise nearly 1%.
Gold prices rebounded from recent losses on Tuesday, rising nearly 1% as markets remained uncertain over the status of U.S.-Iran negotiations.
The yellow metal had fallen sharply in the prior session after a report said Iran had halted peace negotiations with the U.S. in response to increased Israeli hostilities against Lebanon.
The development sparked heightened concerns over a prolonged war in the Middle East.
It remained unclear whether the U.S. and Iran had resumed their negotiations over a potential peace deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump offered conflicting signals on the situation, earlier claiming that he did not care if Iran had walked away from negotiations.
Bitcoin slides to $70k on Strategy sale.
Bitcoin fell to a two-month low on Tuesday, extending recent losses after top corporate holder Strategy sold its holdings for the first time in nearly four years.
Crypto markets were also quashed by weak risk appetite in the face of heightened uncertainty over the U.S.-Iran war, amid conflicting signals on whether negotiations were ongoing.
Bitcoin fell 3.9% to $70,287.3, its weakest level since early-April.
Strategy sells Bitcoin for first time since late-2022
Strategy on Monday disclosed it had sold 32 Bitcoin between May 26 and May 31 at an average net price of $77,135 a coin, to raise $2.5 million.
Shares of the Michael Saylor-led firm slid nearly 6% after the disclosure, given that the sale was Strategy’s first such move since late-2022, even though it represented a fraction of its overall holdings.
The company holds 843,706 Bitcoin.
Saylor had largely telegraphed the sale, stating that the company would consider selling some of its holdings to meet its steep debt obligations.
Strategy’s Bitcoin purchases were funded chiefly through debt and the issuance of preferred shares, with the company now facing interest payments and dividend obligations for the funding.
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