Asian Stocks Rebound as Trump Delays Iran Strike Deadline

Asian equity markets staged a partial recovery on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump postponed a planned military strike on Iranian energy infrastructure, extending the deadline by over ten days while signaling cautious progress in ongoing negotiations. Despite the brief relief rally, persistent geopolitical uncertainty kept regional markets on edge and limited broader gains.

South Korea's KOSPI index bore the brunt of the week's volatility, initially tumbling as much as 3% before trimming losses to around 0.5% by the close. The benchmark index still finished the week down approximately 6%, making it the worst-performing market across the Asia-Pacific region. Memory chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix were central to the selloff, each shedding between 7% and 10% over the week after Google unveiled TurboQuant, a new AI compression algorithm that researchers say could significantly reduce working memory demands for artificial intelligence applications. Analysts warned the development may weigh on long-term memory chip demand, sending shockwaves through the semiconductor sector.

Elsewhere across Asia, market performance was mixed but broadly subdued. Japan's Nikkei 225 and TOPIX closed relatively flat, managing modest weekly gains. Chinese equities edged higher on Friday, with the CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite each rising 0.7%, though both posted weekly losses of roughly 1.5% to 1.7%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.2% on the day but slipped 1.4% for the week. Australia's ASX 200 dipped slightly while energy stocks provided support amid elevated oil prices. India's Nifty 50 fell 1.4% in catch-up trading following a public holiday.

The Iran conflict, now entering its fifth consecutive week, continues to drive market swings. While Trump flagged a 15-point ceasefire proposal under review by Tehran, hostilities in the Middle East showed few concrete signs of de-escalation, keeping investor sentiment fragile heading into the weekend.