
- Stock markets in the Asian region faces major sell-off, tracking weakness in US tech stocks.
- Chipmakers continue to express confidence that AI spending remains robust.
- Elevated oil prices could add burden on Asian economies.
Asian stock markets face a sharp sell-off on the last trading day of the week, tracking seeking negative cues from United States (US) equity markets. US technology stocks fell sharply on Thursday as stocks of sophisticated chips extended their losses.
During the day, Nikkei has fallen like a house of cards, trading over 4% down near 64,100, Shanghai plunges 1.55% to near 3,820, Hang Seng plummets 1.64% at around 24,600. Meanwhile, South Korean markets are closed today due to Constitution Day.
Chipmakers face heat on Thursday after Alphabet Inc. delayed the release of its flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro AI model, leading to concerns over capital spending on Artificial Intelligence. However, chip manufacturers have posted strong second-quarter earnings and have hiked their revenue guidance for forthcoming quarters.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has raised its full-year 2026 revenue growth guidance to slightly above 40%, up from more than 30%, Yahoo Finance reported.
Meanwhile, weak revenue guidance from Netflix also hurted US stocks. The entertainment tech- giant guided $12.86 billion for the third quarter this year, a little over $12.6 billion reported in the second quarter, citing concerns in subscribers’ growth as platform is in a matured stage.
On the geopolitical front, the continued military aggression between the US and Iran is also impacting Asian equity markets. Elevated oil prices are increasing the burden of higher foreign outflows on Asian economies, given that they rely heavily on crude imports to meet their energy needs.





