Asia-Pacific markets fell on Wednesday, following declines on Wall Street as concerns over AI valuations continued to weigh on tech stocks.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.2% in choppy trading, while the Topix index was unchanged.
Yields on 10-year Japanese government bonds rose about 2 basis points to 1.759%, the highest level since 2007. Those on 20-year government bonds rose nearly 3 basis points to 2.811%, their highest level since 1999, while the yield on the 30-year bond rose nearly 4 basis points to 3.334% and hovered is close to record levels.
The tech sector dragged down the Nikkei 225 in early trading, led by semiconductor test equipment maker Advantest which fell more than 4%, ending it down 0.88%.
Semiconductor firm Renesas traded 4.4% lower.
South Korea’s Kospi index fell 0.54% and the small Kosdaq retreated 0.58%. Index heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix pared some losses, trading down 0.51% and 0.79% respectively.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 lost 0.13% in choppy trading, SEEbiz reports.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.45%, while the mainland’s CSI 300 rose 0.21%. Shares in Hong Kong-listed Xiaomi fell more than 4% after the Chinese tech firm warned on Tuesday of higher smartphone prices in 2026, due to rising costs of memory chips to meet surging demand for artificial intelligence.
India’s Nifty 50 and Sensex opened down 0.16% and 0.14% respectively.
