Japan's Nikkei 225 led an Asian selloff on Thursday, dropping 2.8% as AI-linked technology shares tumbled across the region. Losses in Korea and Taiwan ran deeper, though Hong Kong bucked the trend with a gain.
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1,915.97 points, or 2.8%, closing the session lower as equities across Asia mostly declined. Baystreet said the regional weakness perhaps reflected fear over the next moves in the Iran War.
Chip shares drag Tokyo lower
The selling in Tokyo centred on AI-linked hardware names. Advantest fell more than 6%, while SoftBank Group slid nearly 7%. Tokyo Electron lost over 5% and Renesas Electronics declined 4%.
The same pressure hit Seoul harder. SK Hynix tumbled over 11%, reversing the prior session's 8% rally, after logging its steepest one-day decline on Monday as investors locked in profits amid growing worries over AI spending. Rival Samsung Electronics dropped more than 7%, and Seoul Semiconductor fell more than 5%.
Korea and Taiwan post the sharpest drops
The heaviest losses landed outside Japan. The Kospi tumbled 6.4% to 6,820.66, and Taiwan's Taiex dropped 6.4% to 45,624.98. In Shanghai, the CSI index slumped 1.8% to 4,698.44.
Not every market followed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.3% to 25,008.60, led by real estate and consumer cyclicals. Alibaba and Baidu rose 3.26% and 2.51% in Hong Kong on the back of their partnership with Apple to deploy AI tools. Australia's ASX barely moved, settling 0.4 points lower.
Source: Baystreet.ca (snippet-based)
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