STORY: Asian share markets tumbled on Friday as investors took profits on technology stocks and turned defensive ahead of the weekend.
There was wariness of the flare-up in Middle East hostilities with U.S.-Iran peace talks in limbo.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah militia rejected a new ceasefire in Lebanon on Thursday.
And Israel said it would not withdraw troops from the country...
undermining U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to halt fighting there and reach a peace deal with Tehran.
Meanwhile, an AI-driven selloff after chipmaker Broadcom reported underwhelming results on Wednesday continued into a second day.
All that left MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 1.8% in Asian trade.
South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi plunged as much as 7% and Japan's Nikkei fell 1.6%.
Oil prices were little changed as traders awaited more clarity on U.S.-Iran negotiations...
though were set for a weekly gain as hostilities earlier in the week raised concerns of a prolonged energy shock.
European shares slipped at the open and were on track to end the week marginally lower...
also rattled by the uncertainty.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index edged 0.2% down in early trade.
Technology stocks also led declines among sectors with a 2% drop.
They eased after a strong rally that has helped the shares gain over 33% in the past two months - the most among STOXX 600 sectors.
