Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed on Tuesday as fallout from the sharp sell-off in U.S. tech stocks continued to ripple across global markets.
By 11:45 am AEDT (12:45 am GMT) Australia's ASX 200 ticked up by 0.1%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.4%. Meanwhile, South Korean and Chinese markets remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
In the U.S., shares of semiconductor companies and AI beneficiaries tumbled amid fears of intensified competition from DeepSeek. The Chinese upstart claimed to have trained high-performing AI models at significantly lower costs without relying on advanced hardware. Nvidia led the declines, plunging 17%, wiping out close to US$600 billion in market value - marking the largest single-day market cap loss for a U.S. company in history.
Despite the sell-off in tech, investors rotated into defensive sectors, lifting consumer staples and healthcare stocks. This shift helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average close 0.7% higher, while the S&P 500 slid 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.1%.
In commodity markets, Brent crude oil declined 2% to US$76.90 per barrel, while gold fell 1% to US$2,743.92 per ounce.
Chinese markets saw muted losses on Monday, with the Shanghai Composite Index dropping 0.1% to 3,250.6 and the CSI 300 slipping 0.4% to 3,817.1.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index added 0.7% to close at 20,197.8, while India’s BSE SENSEX fell 1.1% to 75,366.2.
European markets also closed lower, with Germany’s DAX down 0.5% to 21,282.2 and France’s CAC 40 falling 0.3% to 7,906.6. Meanwhile, the UK’s FTSE 100 Index ended flat at 8,503.7.
