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Asia-Pacific markets were fell Wednesday, tracking Wall Street declines as concerns about artificial intelligence valuations continued to pressure tech stocks.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.2% in volatile trading, while the Topix index was flat
Technology sector had dragged the Nikkei 225 index sharply lower in early trading, led by semiconductor testing equipment maker Advantest which fell more than 4%, last down 0.88%. Semiconductor firm Renesas was trading 4.4% lower.
South Korea’s Kospi index fell 0.54%, and the small-cap Kosdaq retreated 0.58%. Index heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix pared some losses to trade 0.51% and 0.79% lower, respectively.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 lost 0.13% in volatile trading.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.45%, while the mainland CSI 300 climbed 0.21%. Hong Kong-listed shares of Xiaomi fell more than 4% after the Chinese tech company on Tuesday warned of higher smartphone prices in 2026, on the back of rising costs of memory chips to meet skyrocketing AI demand.
India’s Nifty 50 and Sensex index opened 0.16% and 0.14% lower, respectively.
U.S. equity futures were little changed in early Asian hours after the key indexes fell Tuesday stateside.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 498.50 points, or 1.07%, to settle at 46,091.74. The S&P 500 lost 0.83% to end the day at 6,617.32. It was the broad-based index’s fourth straight losing session, making for its longest slide since August. The Nasdaq Composite declined 1.21% to finish at 22,432.85.
The session saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average also drop for a fourth consecutive day, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite recorded its fifth negative day in six sessions.
Bitcoin dropped briefly below $90,000, a sign of reduced risk-taking by investors.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
