Asian stock markets plunge amid AI investment concerns

On Friday Asian equity markets suffered sharp losses. South Korea’s Kospi fell between 6% and 7%, prompting a brief trading halt, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped about 4.5% below the 69,000‑point psychological level. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped roughly 2% and mainland China’s CSI 300 shed around 2–2.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia was largely unchanged.

The sell‑off was driven by investor anxiety over rising costs of artificial‑intelligence infrastructure and inflated valuations of tech firms. The downturn followed significant losses on Wall Street, with the Nasdaq Composite posting a fourth consecutive session of declines. Technology giants such as Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta saw their shares retreat after price‑increase announcements, adding to the pressure on Asian tech‑heavy indices.