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Asian stocks continued their decline for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, with shares of artificial intelligence companies falling and fighting between the United States and Iran escalating in the Middle East.

U.S. stocks fell 0.3% in futures trading, as the United States launched more strikes on Iran, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Washington was reimposing a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1% to 66,574.96 points. South Korea's Kospi index dropped 3.2% to 6,589.37 points, according to the Associated Press.

China's Shanghai Composite index fell 0.8% to 3,884.32 points, despite the Chinese government announcing that China's exports rose 27% year-on-year in June, driven by strong demand for computer chips and other technology related to the spread of artificial intelligence.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 0.1% to 24,230.46 points, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.5% to 8,767 points.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 0.8% yesterday after posting gains in four of the past five weeks, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 138 points, or 0.3%. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.6%.

Shares of chipmakers fell sharply, including Micron Technology, which fell 4.4%, although it has gained about 243.1% since the start of the year. This rise is due to real earnings, as rapid developments in artificial intelligence have increased demand for computer memory chips and other components.

At the same time, concerns are growing that technology stock prices may have risen excessively, and that demand for their products may not be sustainable if AI does not deliver the expected returns and productivity.

Shares of Nvidia Corp. fell 3.5%. Because it has become the largest company on Wall Street by market value due to the AI hype, its stock has the most influence on the S&P 500 index.

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Disclosures.. Trump promotes cryptocurrencies and prefers stocks and bonds. Reuters: He invests proceeds from token sales in traditional instruments.