06:44 AM EDT, 09/28/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets wavered south Monday as crude prices and bond yields rose and US-based OpenAI said it was pausing training of its latest AI models amid growing reports of AI agents going rogue.

Hong Kong gained, but Shanghai and Tokyo finished in the red on soft tech shares, as did most other regional exchanges. Trading floors in Taiwan were dark on holiday.

Brent crude futures rose 4% to $108.66 a barrel during Asian market hours.

Yields on 10-year US Treasuries reached towards 5.25%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened higher, but lost steam, finishing off 0.7% as traders grew wary of AI and semiconductor stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 486.58 to 65,877.62, as losing issues outnumbered gainers 171 to 57.

Leading the upside was industrial-machinery maker Ebara, up 2.8%, while microchip-manufacturer Socionext declined 5.2%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened higher and held ground, closing up 0.5% on strength in property issues.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 132.42 to 24,642.51, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 70 to 25. The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 0.4% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 2.4%.

Leading the upside was video-game developer NetEase, up 4.9%, while Hua Hong Grace Semiconductor declined 4.6%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite fell 1.7% to 3,823.62.

In economic news, China industrial profits rose nearly 16% year over year in the first eight months of 2026, slowing from an 18% on-year rise in the January-July period, reported the National Bureau of Statistics.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI fell 2.7%; the Australian ASX 200 inclined 0.2%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.3%, and the Thai Set declined 0.3%. In Mumbai, the Sensex closed down 1.5%.

The MSCI All Country Asia Pacific Index fell 0.9% on the day.

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