Asia-Pacific markets traded lower on Friday as a fresh sell-off in United States semiconductor stocks spread across the region, intensifying concerns over stretched artificial intelligence valuations and future AI-related spending.
By 11:50 am AEST (1:50 am GMT), Australia's S&P/ASX 200 had fallen 0.7%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 4%. South Korea's KOSPI 200 was closed for a public holiday.
Japanese technology shares led the regional decline, with SoftBank Group tumbling 8.7%, and Tokyo Electron dropping 8%, as investors reacted to heavy losses across U.S. chip stocks overnight.
The weakness followed a difficult session on Wall Street, where major benchmarks ended lower as semiconductor stocks came under pressure. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.2%, the S&P 500 lost 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.5%.
In commodities markets, Brent crude futures slipped 0.9% to settle at US$84.23 per barrel, while spot gold declined 2.1% to close at US$3,975.77 an ounce.
Chinese markets also weakened, with the SSE Composite Index falling 1.9% to 3,882.4 and the CSI 300 declining 1.9% to 4,698.4.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index bucked the regional trend, rising 1.3% to 25,008.6, while India's BSE Sensex ended broadly unchanged at 77,186.9.
European markets finished mixed on Thursday. The UK's FTSE 100 advanced 0.5% to 10,572.2, while Germany's DAX slipped 0.3% to 24,915.5 and France's CAC 40 declined 0.1% to 8,377.9.
