Asian shares trade mixed as markets continue to watch AI stocks and oil prices

Asian shares traded mixed on Tuesday as markets continued to focus on AI stocks and oil prices. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.8% to 63,993.22, with Softbank Group, a major investor in OpenAI, gaining more than 8% after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company would likely wait for a Wall Street stock sale next year. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.9% to 8,672.10, while South Korea's Kospi dropped less than 0.1% to 6,681.32. Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged down 0.2% to 24,879.69, and the Shanghai Composite added 0.1% to 3,889.95.

Concerns about a potential slowdown in AI development weighed on markets, with analysts warning that competition between U.S. firms and between the U.S. and China remains intense. Nvidia, a major chipmaker, fell 3.4% amid worries that its stock price had risen too high. SpaceX, which relies on AI for some of its business, dropped 2% after Elon Musk expressed agreement with OpenAI CEO Dario Amodei's call for a global slowdown in AI development, citing safety concerns.

The S&P 500 slipped 37.00 points to 7,619.98, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 152.09 to 52,421.20, while the Nasdaq composite declined 146.62 to 26,186.41. Oil prices rose, with U.S. crude gaining 1.36% to $102.77 a barrel and Brent crude increasing 1.17% to $106.92 a barrel, as fighting in the Middle East further tightens the global supply of crude oil.