Asia-Pacific markets traded lower on Wednesday, mirroring Wall Street’s overnight declines as the recent sell-off in artificial intelligence stocks weighed on investor sentiment across the region.
By 12 pm AEDT (1 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.4%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 2.7%, and South Korea’s Kospi 200 tumbled 4.6%.
Asian technology and semiconductor shares echoed the weakness. SoftBank Group dropped 8.8%, while chip-testing firm Advantest fell 7.2%, as investors grew wary of overstretched valuations in the sector that has driven much of this year’s rally.
In Japan, the Bank of Japan’s September meeting minutes were released, showing policymakers divided on the timing of future rate hikes.
One board member suggested raising borrowing costs at “somewhat regular intervals”, while another argued that delaying rate hikes further would increase risks.
The BOJ ultimately kept its benchmark rate unchanged at 0.5%, though two of the nine board members dissented, favouring an increase to 0.75%.
Elsewhere in the region, New Zealand’s jobless rate climbed to a near nine-year high as labour market conditions softened.
Official figures from Stats NZ showed unemployment rising to 5.3% in the September quarter, up from 5.2% previously, broadly in line with expectations.
The data also showed slower wage growth as businesses paused hiring.
The downturn followed sharp losses in the United States, where AI-linked names such as Palantir dragged the major indices lower.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%, the S&P 500 slid 1.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite sank 2%.
Commodities were weaker, with Brent crude down 0.7% to US$64.44 per barrel and spot gold sliding 1.7% to US$3,932.10 per ounce.
In China, markets were mixed on Tuesday, with the Shanghai Composite falling 0.4% to 3,960.2 and the CSI 300 down 0.8% to 4,618.7.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.8% to 25,852.4, while India’s BSE Sensex dropped 0.6% to a two-week low of 83,459.2.
European markets finished mixed overnight: London’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.1% to 9,715.0, while Germany’s DAX fell 0.8% to 23,949.1 and France’s CAC 40 eased 0.5% to 8,067.5.
