Asian stocks plunged on Wednesday after a sharp sell-off in Big Tech shares pulled Wall Street lower overnight, with Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 tumbling more than 4%.

By midday, the Nikkei had dropped 4.7% to 49,104.05, weighed down by heavy losses in chip-related stocks. Shares of Tokyo Electron fell 6.1%, while semiconductor testing equipment maker Advantest Corp. slumped 10%.

South Korea’s Kospi also fell sharply, losing 3.7% to 3,977.24 as major tech firms tracked global declines. Samsung Electronics dropped 4.4%, and SK Hynix lost 2.7%, despite its recent gains tied to artificial intelligence collaboration with Nvidia.

Chinese markets saw milder losses, with the Shanghai Composite down 0.3% to 3,946.78 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipping 1.1% to 25,656.90.

The slump followed steep declines in technology shares on Wall Street, where the sector’s outsized weight has amplified market swings. Palantir Technologies fell 7.9% despite better-than-expected earnings, Nvidia dropped 4%, and Microsoft slipped 0.5%.

The S&P 500 fell 1.2% to 6,771.55, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.5% to 47,085.24, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq sank 2% to 23,348.64.

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Investors remain focused on corporate earnings amid a U.S. government shutdown that has halted key economic reports on inflation and jobs. Analysts say the data gap complicates the Federal Reserve’s decision-making on interest rates as inflation remains elevated at 3% while hiring slows.

Outside earnings, Tesla fell 5.1% after Norway’s sovereign wealth fund said it would oppose CEO Elon Musk’s proposed $1 trillion compensation package. Yum Brands jumped 7.3% on reports it may sell its struggling Pizza Hut unit.

Oil prices weakened, with U.S. benchmark crude down 31 cents to $60.25 a barrel and Brent crude slipping 28 cents to $64.16. The dollar eased to 153.33 yen, while the euro edged up to $1.1493.

Source: AP