Shares skid in Asia in sell-off of AI-related shares as Brent oil trades near $100 per barrel

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares skidded Friday in Asia after Brent crude shot to its highest price since May as heavy fighting in the Middle East again threatened to slow the global flow of oil and gas.

U.S. futures were little changed after tumbles for two of Wall Street’s most influential companies, Alphabet and Tesla, yanked U.S. stocks to their worst loss in a month.

Looming over markets: The deepening crisis in the Middle East, worries over the a potential bubble in investments in artificial intelligence and another round of tariff hikes by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The U.S. is imposing taxes of 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 trading partners, accounting for 99% of U.S. imports, saying they failed to fully enforce bans on goods produced by forced labor, the Trump administration said Thursday.

That move came just as the clock was running out Friday on stopgap levies the president imposed after a stinging defeat for other such tariffs at the Supreme Court.

Such uncertainties have helped push the U.S. dollar to a 40-year high against the Japanese yen. A dollar bought 163.79 yen early Friday, down from 163.85 yen and a level last seen in 1986. The euro rose to $1.1387 from $1.1377.

South Korea's Kospi stuttered lower, falling 5.7% to $6,690.62. Samsung Electronics sank7.6% and shares in computer chipmaker SK Hynix dropped 8.3%.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 2.7% to 64,611.15, led by losses for technology companies. SoftBank Group, which has massive investments in artificial intelligence, tumbled 7.4%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.4% to 24,861.44, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 1.4% to 3,822.13.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.8% to 8,772.30.

On Thursday, the price of Brent crude shot to as high as $102 per barrel and settled at $100.69 per barrel, up 7%. Early Friday in Asia, it was down 0.8% at $99.87 per barrel. Before the Iran war began in late February it was trading around $72 per barrel.

U.S. benchmark crude slipped 1.1% to $91.23 per barrel.

The cause for the latest spike in prices: attacks on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea. That threatens another avenue that oil companies use to move their crude from the Middle East to customers worldwide, along with the Strait of Hormuz.

Underscoring the importance of the sea route for the economy, Trump threatened “major military punishment” against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are backed by Iran, if they keep attacking ships.

U.S. stocks fell under the pressure of rising oil prices, which raise costs for businesses and cut into their customers’ ability to spend.

The S&P 500 fell 1.2% and is on track for its first back-to-back weekly loss since March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 506 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 2.2%.

Higher inflation could push the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates, which would slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and other investments.

The European Central Bank held its main interest rates steady at its meeting Thursday.

Gasoline prices tend to follow oil prices higher, and a gallon of regular costs an average of $4.09 across the United States, according to AAA. That is still below highs of roughly $4.56 in May, but it was at just $3.93 a month ago.

Tesla tumbled 14.5% after Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle company reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Because Tesla one of the largest stocks in the S&P 500 by market value, its stock has more influence on the index than nearly every other.

One of the few that is larger is Alphabet. Its stock fell 7.1% even though the parent company of Google delivered stronger profit and revenue than analysts expected.

Investors focused instead on how much Alphabet is planning to spend on AI after the company raised its forecast for capital spending.

Associated Press Business Writers Matt Ott in Washington and Stan Choe in New York contributed to this report.

A dealer talks on the phone near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A dealer walks past near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A TV cameraman prepares to film near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

An employee walks past near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand and Cambodia's foreign ministers exchanged opening statements in Singapore on Tuesday at the first meeting to settle a sea border dispute under a U.N. agreement on maritime law for compulsory conciliation.

At issue is territory claimed by both that is believed to contain large, exploitable amounts of natural gas and other hydrocarbons.

The decision to take the matter to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, was triggered by Cambodia in June after Thailand terminated a 25-year-old memorandum of understanding meant to resolve overlapping maritime claims.

Thailand’s decision to revoke the agreement came unilaterally after a sharp deterioration in relations and armed combat with Cambodia last year. The Southeast Asian neighbors fought over competing claims to territory along the land border in July and December. Several dozen civilians and soldiers on both sides were killed and hundreds of thousands of people displaced.

Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow and his Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn led their delegations in the first conciliation meeting with the five-member UNCLOS commission, held in Singapore from Monday to Wednesday.

Cambodia called for a peaceful resolution, which “serves the peoples of both nations and contributes to peace, cooperation and shared prosperity in the region,” Prak Sokhonn said in his statement Tuesday.

He said Cambodia was compelled to consider other peaceful options and chose to initiate the UNCLOS proceedings “in keeping with its commitment to the rule of law and to the peaceful settlement of disputes.”

Sihasak said Thailand has been unwavering in its commitment to uphold international law and peaceful settlement in disputes. He argued that the revoked agreement “had produced no concrete progress,” as the two countries managed to hold only two meetings over a period of 25 years.

He said Thailand wished to “give negotiations a fresh start,” and that it had offered Cambodia an opportunity to hold direct talks, which Cambodia disregarded, before moving on to the UNCLOS conciliation process.

“Thailand stands ready to engage in this process constructively, with the aim of achieving, with the Commission’s assistance, a negotiated and equitable solution,” the Thai foreign minister said.

A fragile ceasefire between the two countries was agreed in late December, but tensions continue with sporadic incidents and large-scale deployment of military forces.

Any UNCLOS ruling isn’t binding on the parties involved, even though both countries are signatories to the international pact.

Thailand has been averse to having territorial issues decided by third parties rather than handled bilaterally. It has long felt a 1962 ruling by the International Court of Justice awarding Cambodia the hilltop Preah Vihear temple along their border to be unfair, contributing to ongoing tensions between the neighbors.

—

Sopheng Cheang reported from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow, center, prepares to attend the first meeting of a conciliation commission between Thailand and Cambodia under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, in Singapore Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (Thailand Foreign Ministry via AP)