Asian shares mostly rose in early Thursday trading as investors favored technology-related stocks despite continuing concerns over the war in Iran. Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 2.4% to 68,355.81, while South Korea's Kospi gained 0.5% to 6,873.06, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.4% to 24,613.27 and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.3% to 3,842.19. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.7% to 8,638.10. In Tokyo, chip and artificial-intelligence-related shares including Advantest Corp., Tokyo Electron and SoftBank Group Corp. continued to benefit from solid demand expectations. U.S. stocks were mixed on Wednesday: the S&P 500 fell 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 443.87 points, or 0.9%, to 50,906.05, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.2% to 26,861.06. The S&P 500's decline marked its third losing month in the past four. U.S. consumer prices rose 3.4% in August from a year earlier, below economists' 3.7% expectation but above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. Oil prices continued to fluctuate as markets assessed uncertainty over when the war with Iran would allow crude flows to return fully. U.S. crude fell 0.56% to $89.91 a barrel, while Brent crude declined 0.35% to $97.69. Iranian officials said Wednesday they had received an official U.S. response to Tehran's latest proposal to end the seven-month war, but did not disclose its contents or say whether Washington had rejected it. U.S. President Donald Trump had publicly rejected Iran's proposal several days earlier to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week if the United States met certain conditions. Treasury yields also climbed, with the 10-year yield rising to 5.29% from 5.26% late Tuesday, a level last seen more than two decades ago in 2002. The 30-year yield increased to 5.64% from 5.59%. The dollar rose to 158.17 Japanese yen from 157.33 yen, while the euro fell to $1.1328 from $1.1334.