South Korea stocks hit a fresh record high on Monday, bucking a mixed performance across Asia-Pacific markets as investors monitored lingering uncertainty around U.S.-Iran negotiations after President Donald Trump said he was in "no hurry" to strike a deal to end the conflict.
South Korea's Kospi jumped 3.68% to 8,788.38 while the small-cap Kosdaq was down 2.3% to 1,050.03. Shares of Samsung Electronics surged more than 10% to hit an all-time high.
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.91% to 66,934.33, while the Topix declined 042 to close at 3,940.7%. In Australia the S&P/ASX 200 was flat at 8,729.4.
Shares of SoftBank Group rose 14% after the conglomerate on Sunday announced plans to invest 45 billion euros ($53 billion) over the next five years to build artificial intelligence infrastructure in France.
The  Hang Seng index rose 0.86% in the final hour of trade while the CSI 300 was down 0.98%, closing the trading day at 4,844.26.
The U.S. and Iran have still not finalized an agreement to end the conflict, Trump said in an interview with his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, on Fox News Saturday. He added that he is pressing for a deal that would ensure Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon.Â
While he said he would prefer a swift resolution, he stressed that he was not rushing negotiations and warned that military action could resume if talks collapse.
"I'd like to say I'm in a hurry because gasoline prices are going to come tumbling down, but if you're going to be in a hurry, you're not going to make a good deal," Trump said. "And slowly but surely we're getting, I think, what we want, and if we don't get what we want we're going to end it a different way."
Last Friday on Wall Street, U.S. equities closed at record highs while crude prices slipped, helping the major averages score a winning month, boosted by technology.
The Nasdaq Composite settled up 0.2% at 26,972.62, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.22% to 7,580.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 363.49 points, or 0.72%, at 51,032.46. All three indexes hit fresh all-time intraday highs earlier as well.
— CNBC's Sarah Min and Lisa Kailah Han contributed to this report