Asian Markets Mixed as Oil Prices Rise Amid Middle East Tensions

Asian markets experienced mixed results on Monday, following gains on Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei 225 led advances, rising by 2% to 66,890.02. Technology companies drove this increase, with Tokyo Electron climbing 3.5% and Advantest increasing by 4.9%. In contrast, South Korea's Kospi added only 0.8%, despite Samsung Electronics losing 0.9% and SK Hynix declining by 1.3%.

The mixed performance across Asia was attributed to foreign investors selling shares in Big Tech companies to lock in profits from recent gains and rebalance holdings into other sectors, such as defense contractors.