Low angle view of tall buildings in Tokyo, Japan, showcasing diverse architectural styles
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Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Wednesday, breaking ranks with Wall Street after a sell-off in U.S. technology stocks weighed on sentiment, while gold extended gains for a second day.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.78% to close at 54,293.36, dragged by tech stocks. The Topix added 0.27% to 3,655.58.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 reversed course and rose 0.8% to 8,927.8.
South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1.57% to 5,371.1, while the small-cap Kosdaq added 0.45% to 1,149.43.
Nintendo shares dropped more than 10%, despite maintaining its full-year sales forecast for the Switch 2 console, as investors assessed several potential headwinds for the gaming giant, including the risk of an unprecedented surge in memory prices — a key component of its consoles.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index was flat at 26,847.32, while the mainland CSI 300 rose 0.83% to 4,698.68.
Wall Street’s fears of artificial intelligence-driven disruption affecting software companies also spread to Asia, with tech stocks in the region tracking overnight declines in U.S. peers.
Japanese software firms in Asia led the region’s declines. TIS, a major Japanese information technology services provider and systems integrator, plunged by more than 15%. Trend Micro and NS Solutions each lost over 7%.
Spot gold prices added more than 2% to $5,060.72 per ounce, while spot silver added nearly 5% to $89.37 per ounce.
Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 pulled back as investors dumped technology stocks and moved into shares more broadly linked to improvements in the economy.
The broad market index fell 0.84% and closed at 6,917.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 166.67 points, or 0.34%, to end at 49,240.99. Earlier, the 30-stock index rose as much as 0.5% to touch 49,653.13, a new record. The Nasdaq Composite shed 1.43%, settling at 23,255.19.
Most tech shares closed in the red, including most of the “Magnificent Seven” names that have reported earnings so far — Microsoft and Meta Platforms fell more than 2%, while Apple ended marginally lower. Nvidia also slumped, with the artificial intelligence bellwether’s nearly 3% drop adding to its losses for the year. Meanwhile, software stocks continued their 2026 tumble, with shares of ServiceNow and Salesforce falling by nearly 7% each.
— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal, Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
