Japan, Tokyo city skyline, Tokyo Tower.
Dukas Prism | Universal Image Group | fake images
Asia-Pacific markets fell on Friday, after US technology stocks lost ground and investors’ hopes of a December rate cut by the Federal Reserve faded.
Japan Nikkei 225 fell 2.4% to close at 48,625.88, while the Topix index ended the day flat.
Technology conglomerate SoftBank fell more than 10%. Other technology stocks in the index extended their declines: Advantest fell 12.1%, Tokyo Electron fell more than 7%, Lasertec fell more than 5% and Renesas Electron lost 2.65%.
Japan’s core inflation in October rose at its steepest rate since July, in line with market estimates on Friday, supporting the case for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates.
South Korea’s Kospi index pared losses to fall 3.79% to close at 3,853.26, and the small-cap Kosdaq fell 3.14% to 863.95. The Kospi Heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell as much as 5.77% and 8.76%, respectively.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.59% to 8,416.5.
from hong kong Hang Seng Index fell 2.38% to close at 25,220.02, while the Hang Seng Tech Index finished 3.21% lower at 5,395.49. Technology specialist Baidu It stumbled 5.79% and Tencent traded 1.77% lower.
Hang Seng’s auto shares also took a hit. Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD fell 2.57%, while Nio and Auto Li they fell more than 4% and 2%, respectively.
The mainland’s CSI 300 continued to fall to end down 2.44% at 4,453.6.
India’s Nifty 50 was down 0.34%, while the BSE Sensex index was trading 0.29% lower.
Meanwhile, bitcoin extended its decline to $83,829.94, hitting its lowest level in seven months. Ether hit its lowest level since July, before recouping some losses and was last down 4.09% at $2,719.56.
Overnight in the USA, Oracle and amd were among the first AI plays to fall into the red in the session, followed by NVIDIAwhich reversed the gains and closed almost 3% lower.
Better-than-expected U.S. employment data renewed doubts about whether the central bank will cut its benchmark overnight interest rate. Traders were estimating a roughly 40% chance of a quarter-point cut next month, according to the CME FedWatch tool, a setback for investors hoping for lower borrowing costs.
On Thursday in the United States, the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.16%, compared to an advance of 2.6% at one point in the session.
Other major indices also fell, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.84%. The S&P 500 lost 1.56%, despite rising as much as 1.9% earlier in the day.
—CNBC’s Liz Napolitano, Pia Singh and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
