Asia markets track Wall Street’s staggering reversal in AI-related stocks

Asia-Pacific markets fell Friday, after U.S. tech stocks lost ground and investors’ hopes of a December rate cut by the Federal Reserve faded.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbled 2.4% to close at 48,625.88, while the Topix index ended the day flat.

Tech conglomerate SoftBank plunged more than 10%. Other tech stocks on the index extended declines, with Advantest stumbling 12.1%, Tokyo Electron retreating more than 7%, Lasertec falling over 5%, and Renesas Electron down 2.65%.

Japan’s core inflation in October rose at its sharpest rate since July, in line with market estimates on Friday, supporting the case for interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan.

South Korea’s Kospi index pared losses to fall 3.79% and close at 3,853.26, and the small-cap Kosdaq retreated 3.14% to 863.95. Kospi’s heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix tumbled as much as 5.77% and 8.76%, respectively.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.59% to 8,416.5.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.38% to close at 25,220.02, while the Hang Seng Tech index ended 3.21% lower at 5,395.49. Tech major Baidu stumbled 5.79%, and Tencent traded 1.77% lower.

Hang Seng auto stocks also took a hit. Chinese electric-vehicle maker BYD fell 2.57%, while Nio and Li Auto dropped more than 4% and 2%, respectively.

The mainland’s CSI 300 continued to decline to end 2.44% at 4,453.6.

India’s Nifty 50 was down 0.34%, while the BSE Sensex index traded 0.29% lower.

Meanwhile, bitcoin extended its decline to $83,829.94, hitting its lowest level in seven months. Ether hit its lowest since July, before recouping some losses and was last down 4.09% at $2,719.56

Overnight in the U.S., Oracle and AMD were among the first AI plays to fall into the red on the session, followed by Nvidia, which reversed gains and closed nearly 3% lower.

Stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data renewed doubts about whether the central bank will lower its benchmark overnight rate. Traders were pricing roughly a 40% chance of a quarter-point cut next month, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a setback for investors hoping for lower borrowing costs.

On Thursday stateside, the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.16%, down from a 2.6% advance at one point in the session.

Other major indexes also slipped, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.84%. The S&P 500 shed 1.56%, despite rising as much as 1.9% earlier in the day.

—CNBC’s Liz Napolitano, Pia Singh, and Alex Harring contributed to this report.