Asia shares fall on tech nerves; oil prices slip

Business Recorder reported that regional equities in Asia lost ground on Tuesday, as crude kept sliding. On Monday Washington told nations to halt dealings with Tehran under threat of secondary sanctions, yet the Treasury held back from imposing any penalties. Brent crude was down 0.1% at $92.08 a barrel, while US crude rose 0.1% to $85.09, after both benchmarks fell more than 2% overnight.

Investors are focused on Nvidia, which reports results on Wednesday, and analysts forecast that quarterly sales could nearly double, to roughly $92 billion. Full-year earnings guidance is likely to fall somewhere between $103 billion and $105 billion, and IG analyst Fabien Yip said the expectations are demanding. Tech stocks also came under pressure after Alibaba began selling $10.2 billion of shares at a sharp discount, while Samsung Electronics' payout plan disappointed investors.

MSCI's broadest Asia-Pacific index outside Japan fell 0.5%, the Nikkei lost 0.9% and South Korea's Kospi dropped 2.7%. Gold rose 0.5% to $4,675.51 an ounce, and markets are looking ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole speech on Friday for clarity on US rates.