Asia markets wobble as Iran tensions weigh; Nikkei, KOSPI retreat from records

Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed as investors weighed signals from the U.S.–Iran conflict; Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s KOSPI slipped about 2% from record highs while Hong Kong steadied on tech names after Wall Street’s overnight records, helped earlier by Nvidia’s AI push. Momentum cooled as chipmakers led gains and subtle profit-taking set in; Korea’s May CPI also boosted expectations of higher rates from the Bank of Korea.