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