Asian equities were predominantly in negative territory on Thursday, while crude oil prices declined despite a series of military exchanges between the United States and Iran.

U.S. futures demonstrated a modest upward trend.

The divestment of AI-related equities exerted downward pressure on key indices in South Korea and Japan.

An interest rate increase by the Bank of Korea also triggered a 6.6% decline in the Kospi, bringing it to 6,816.70.

This marked the BOK's first rate hike since 2023, intended to help mitigate inflationary pressures stemming from the conflict in Iran.

Shares of memory chip manufacturer SK Hynix plummeted 11.2%, while Samsung Electronics experienced an 8.2% decline.

Taiwan’s Taiex declined by 0.3% in anticipation of an earnings report from Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer TSMC, widely regarded as a key indicator for the global industry and the ongoing surge in artificial intelligence.

U.S. futures posted a marginal uptick.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 declined by 2.9% to close at 66,767.64.

Shares of Japanese memory chip manufacturer Kioxia experienced a precipitous drop of 13.5%.

Chipmaking equipment firm Tokyo Electron fell 5.2%, while chip testing equipment producer Advantest surrendered 5.6%.

SoftBank Group witnessed a contraction of 6.4%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index diverged from regional trends, rising 1.7% to close at 25,111.22.

Shares of Alibaba, listed in Hong Kong, advanced 4.4% after China’s cyberspace regulator announced on Wednesday that it had approved the Apple Intelligence AI tool for deployment in China.

An Alibaba spokesperson confirmed that its Qwen model will be integrated into Apple Intelligence.

The Shanghai Composite index experienced a 0.9% decline, ultimately closing at 3,921.20.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 recorded a slight downturn of 0.2%, settling at 8,820.50.

India’s Sensex registered a modest uptick of 0.3%.

Oil prices dipped slightly in early Thursday trading yet remained at elevated levels, as the United States intensified its airstrikes against Iran, while Iran retaliated by launching missile and drone attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, experienced a 0.4% decline to $84.55 per barrel.

Prior to the onset of the conflict in late February, it had been trading at approximately $72 per barrel.

Benchmark U.S. crude experienced a marginal decline of 0.2%, ultimately settling at $79.34 per barrel.

ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey noted in a Thursday commentary that oil prices managed to secure a third consecutive day of gains, with few signs of de-escalation between the U.S. and Iran.

Rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran are "having a meaningful impact on vessel flows from the Persian Gulf," they stated, as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz—a vital waterway for global oil transport—remains under strain.

On Wednesday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 advanced 0.4% to 7,572.40.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3% to 52,658.64, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.6% to 26,269.23.

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company, dipped below its initial public offering (IPO) price of $135 per share before partially recovering its losses.

A U.S. report indicating a deceleration in inflation for June, coupled with robust earnings results from major firms such as American investment company BlackRock, further contributed to the market's upward trajectory.

BlackRock's shares climbed 6.6% following the announcement of quarterly revenue and profit that surpassed expectations.

In other transactions early Thursday, the U.S. dollar weakened to 162.09 Japanese yen from 162.19 yen, while the euro edged down slightly to $1.1467 from $1.1464.