Asian Stocks Retreat from AI-Driven Gains as Oil Prices Remain Steady

Asian stocks took a breather on Thursday after surging the previous day due to AI-driven gains. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.69%, led by declines in tech firms. South Korean shares dropped 3.64% while Japan's Nikkei lost 1.57%. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix led the losses, down 2.44% and 6.95%, respectively.

Kioxia plummeted 9.61% and Tokyo Electron slumped 4.61%. The pullback followed a weaker session on Wall Street overnight where the Nasdaq snapped its winning streak as shares of Elon Musk-led SpaceX and Advanced Micro Devices stumbled after their quarterly earnings. While AMD's results beat estimates, they fell short of investors' lofty expectations.

Oil prices remained steady in the $70-a-barrel range, with Brent crude futures falling 0.18% to $79.31 per barrel. US West Texas Intermediate futures edged down 0.35% to $74.96 a barrel. Investors are now focused on the US labour market data ahead of Friday's nonfarm payrolls report, which is expected to show the economy added 80,000 jobs in July.