CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets a sea on Friday, following the broad sell-off on Wall Street overnight, amid a renewed sell-off in the tech sector, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ plummeting on concerns about the sustainability of the AI trade amid expected tighter AI regulation after Democrats' takeover of both houses of Congress. Concerns of global inflation returns as crude oil prices spike again. Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday.
The selloff intensified after a sweeping Democratic victory in the US midterm elections raised concerns over tighter AI industry regulations and a possible slowdown in data center expansion.
Traders also adopted a 'wait and watch' approach to see how the Trump administration plans to resolve the U.S.-Iran standoff.
The Australian stock market is trading significantly lower on Friday, reversing some of the sharp gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 9,000 mark, with weakness in mining and technology stocks partially offset by gains in financial stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 87.80 points or 0.97 percent to 8,977.30, after hitting a low of 8,923.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 101.60 points or 1.10 percent to 9,103.60. Australian stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday.
Among major miners, Mineral Resources is sliding almost 5 percent, BHP Group is declining almost 4 percent, Fortescue is down more than 2 percent and Rio Tinto is losing more than 3 percent.
Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is edging up 0.2 percent, while Santos is declining almost 2 percent and Beach energy is losing more than 1 percent. Origin Energy is flat.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay and Square-owner Block is losing more than 2 percent, Zip is sliding almost 5 percent, Appen is tumbling almost 6 percent, Xero slipping almost 2 percent and WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent.
Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is advancing more than 3 percent and ANZ Banking is gaining more than 1 percent, while Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are adding almost 2 percent each.
Gold miners are weak. Northern Star Resources is losing more than 2 percent, Genesis Minerals is sliding more than 4 percent and Newmont is down almost 1 percent, while Evolution Mining and Resolute Mining are declining more than 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.692 on Friday.
The Japanese market is trading sharply lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is plunging more than 5 percent to well below the 57,900 level, with a sell-off across most sectors led by index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 57,858.61, down 3,219.29 points or 5.27 percent, after hitting a low of 56,745.81 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is plunging more than 11 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is declining more than 3 percent and Honda is slipping almost 4 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is plunging more than 11 percent, Screen Holdings is tumbling more than 5 percent and Tokyo Electron is sliding more than 8 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are sliding more than 6 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is tumbling more than 8 percent.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is sliding almost 8 percent, Panasonic is tumbling almost 10 percent, Sony is edging down 0.1 percent and Canon is losing more than 2 percent.
Among other major losers, Ibiden and Furukawa Electric are plummeting almost 15 percent each, while Fujikura and Resonac Holdingsare plunging almosy 14 percent each. Kioxia Holdings and Murata Manufacturing are tumbling more than 13 percent each. Tokai Carbon and Mitsui Kinzoku are sliding almost 13 percent each, while JX Advanced Metals is slipping more than 12 percent, while Ajinomoto and Sumco are declining almost 12 percent each. Japan Steel Works is losing more than 11 percent.
Conversely, Daikin Industries is gaining almost 3 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 157 yen-range on Friday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan and South Korea are plunging 6.2 and 5.7 percent, respectively. Singapore is slipping 2.2 percent, while China, Malaysia and Indonesia are lower by between 1.1 and 1.6 percent each. New Zealand and Hong Kong are down 0.6 percent each.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial move back to the downside during trading on Thursday following the rally seen in the previous session. The major averages all moved sharply lower, more than offsetting yesterday's gains.
The major averages ended the day just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq nosedive 1,421.52 points or 5.5 percent to 24,315.00, the S&P 500 plummeted 334.89 points or 4.4 percent to 7,353.73 and the Dow plunged 1,833.06 or 3.4 percent to 51,523.06.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both fell by 0.4 percent.
Crude oil prices surged on Thursday as investors look for the next steps to resolve the U.S.-Iran standoff - either through diplomacy or hostility. West Texas Intermediate crude for December was up $2.29 or 2.60 percent at $90.41 per barrel.
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
