KOSPI, Nikkei Diverge Ahead of Fed, BOJ Decisions

Asian stock markets diverged on Tuesday as South Korea's KOSPI struggled to shake off pressure from semiconductor shares, while Japan's Nikkei 225 recovered. The KOSPI fell by up to 0.76% in early Seoul trading before paring most of the decline.

The split came as investors assessed a rise in crude oil prices, elevated global bond yields, and calls for a slower pace of frontier AI development from technology executives.

South Korea remains particularly sensitive to any reassessment of AI spending due to its reliance on Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which carry heavy weight in the KOSPI and sit at the centre of the global memory-chip supply chain.

Japan's Nikkei 225 reversed early losses as SoftBank Group rallied more than 8%, giving the price-weighted benchmark an outsized boost. However, the rebound does not remove the macro pressure on Japanese equities.