Svmuureports that on Friday, Asian emerging market stocks weakened significantly, with surging oil prices and limited progress in US-Iran peace talks exacerbating market concerns over inflation and economic uncertainty. The MSCI Emerging Asia stock index fell more than 1.7%, mainly dragged down by a sharp slump in South Korea's KOSPI, which plunged over 5%, triggering a sell-side circuit breaker that suspended automated trading for five minutes. Song Zhe, senior investment specialist for Asian and global emerging market equities at BNP Paribas Asset Management, said: "We believe today's downward pressure is more about the market digesting profits from the strong rebound since April, rather than a decisive shift toward full-blown 'risk-off' mode." "Market positions had become relatively crowded, so some profit-taking is understandable." (Jin Shi)