Sawt Falasteen - Asian stocks mostly down with tech firms back under pressure

Investors have enjoyed a much-needed rally since Friday, following a month-long tech rout that slashed billions of dollars off valuations owing to concerns about the vast sums companies had pumped into artificial intelligence.

The recovery started with Seoul -- the poster child of the sell-off since June -- soaring almost 18 percent at the end of last week and recently battered chipmakers SK hynix and Samsung powering more than 25 percent higher.

That has fuelled speculation that the AI play was back as traders return to pick up bargain stocks.

However, the rally appeared to peter out Thursday following a tech retreat on Wall Street and disappointing earnings from US giants SanDisk and Western Digital that revived concerns over the profitability of the AI investments.

Seoul's Kospi shed more than five percent at one point, led by SK hynix and Samsung.

Tokyo's Nikkei -- another tech-heavy index -- lost around two percent, with chipmaker Kioxia down more than 10 percent and Tokyo Electron seven percent off. Tech investment titan SoftBank, which is due to report later Thursday, lost six percent.

There was also selling in Hong Kong, Wellington and Taipei, though Shanghai, Sydney and Singapore rose.

While Wall Street was broadly negative, the Dow still mustered a gain to push it to a third straight record close.

Easing tensions in the Middle East and comments from Washington about a US-Iran deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz have also helped equities this week by pushing oil prices down and tempering inflation and rate hike concerns.

However, both main contracts edged up Thursday after Iran said it had agreed a route with Oman for ships transiting the waterway and were adding the final touches to arrangements for jointly managing it.

Official sources briefing Iranian media stressed that any reopening would depend on the United States fulfilling what Tehran sees as its commitment to end its own naval blockade of Iran's ports.

"The factors making the Strait of Hormuz insecure still exist on the part of the United States, particularly the naval blockade and other aggressive and threatening actions against Iran and its interests," said Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, according to state news agency IRNA.

Investors are keenly awaiting the release of key US jobs data Friday, hoping for an idea about the state of the economy as the Federal Reserve plots its next moves on borrowing costs.

Figures on Wednesday showed hiring in the US private sector was significantly below expectations in July, with industries like leisure and hospitality shedding jobs.

- Key figures around 0230 GMT -

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.6 percent at 65,266.67 (break)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 2.0 percent at 25,409.68

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,884.42

Seoul - Kospi: DOWN 4.5 percent at 6,296.85

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 157.68 yen from 157.79 yen on Wednesday

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1555 from $1.1549

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3470 from $1.3463

Euro/pound: UP at 85.79 pence at 85.78 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.7 percent at $75.71 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.7 percent at $80.00 per barrel

New York - DOW: UP 0.5 percent at 54,349.12 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 10,888.30 (close)

N.Awad--SF-PST