SHENZHEN, CHINA – AUGUST 26: Aerial view of Shenzhen skyline in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China on August 26, 2020. (Photo credit: He Shaoping/VCG, Getty Images)
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Asia-Pacific markets opened lower on Friday, with Wall Street down on persistent concerns about the high valuations of artificial intelligence stocks.
Shares of major AI companies fell in the US on Thursday, weighing on the overall US market. The biggest decline was in Nvidia, microsoft, Palantir Technologies, broadcom and advanced micro device.
Japanese benchmark Nikkei Stock Average The index fell by 1.38%. Stock prices of AI-related stocks pushed down the index. Softbank Semiconductor testing equipment maker Advantest fell nearly 8%, chip maker fell more than 6% Renesas Electronics fell 4%, while chip manufacturing equipment maker Tokyo Electron fell 1.56%.
The TOPIX index fell by 0.5%.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.46%, and the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.92%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.27%.
Asian investors will be keeping an eye on China’s October trade figures, which will be released later in the day. Economists polled by Reuters expect exports to slow to 3% from a year earlier, slowing from September’s 8.3% rise, while imports are expected to fall to 3.2% from 7.4%.
This comes at a time when domestic demand continues to be weighed down by a prolonged housing recession, rising employment concerns, and a reduction in consumption-focused economic stimulus measures.
hong kong futures Hang Seng Index The index opened lower trading at 26,436 as against the previous close of 26,485.9.
U.S. futures edged higher in early Asian hours after tech stocks fell on Thursday.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 398.70 points, or 0.84%, to close at 46,912.30. The S&P 500 Index fell 1.12% to close at 6,720.32, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.9% to close at 23,053.99.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
