Asia-Pacific equity markets traded mostly lower on Friday, following a mixed session on Wall Street overnight as investors continued rotating out of major technology stocks despite a strong earnings result from Micron Technology.
By 11:50 am AEST (1:50 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was flat, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged 3.2% and South Korea’s KOSPI 200 dropped 4.2%.
Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank Group led losses, sliding more than 12% as concerns intensified over the rising costs associated with artificial intelligence infrastructure investment.
In South Korea, SK Hynix declined 4.5%, partially reversing a sharp 13.1% gain from the previous trading session.
In macroeconomic data, Tokyo’s core consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.6% in June from a year earlier, in line with expectations.
The ‘core-core’ CPI measure, which excludes fresh food and energy and is closely watched by the Bank of Japan as a gauge of underlying inflation trends, increased 1.9% in June after a 1.6% rise in May.
In the United States, major benchmarks ended the previous session mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%, the S&P 500 was little changed, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5% amid continued weakness in large-cap technology shares.
In commodities, Brent crude oil futures climbed 2.2% to settle at US$75.50 per barrel, while spot gold rose 0.7% to US$4,026.17 per ounce.
Mainland Chinese equities were mixed on Thursday, with the Shanghai Composite Index edging up 0.2% to 4,120.3 and the CSI 300 rising 1.6% to 5,020.1.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained 0.3% to 23,076.9, though it remained near its lowest level since 3 June 2025.
India’s BSE Sensex added 0.1% to close at 77,100.5.
European markets finished higher on Thursday, with the UK’s FTSE 100 rising 0.7% to 10,529.9, Germany’s DAX gaining 1% to 24,994.8, and France’s CAC 40 adding 0.6% to 8,431.6.
