Asian equity markets see their biggest losses in half a year

Japan and South Korea stocks slump, tech shares lead selloff

Asian equities slumped on Wednesday, with Japanese and South Korean stocks posting their sharpest declines in more than six months as investors rotated out of high-valuation sectors.

In Tokyo, the Topix index suffered heavy losses led by technology shares. SoftBank Group Corp. plunged as much as 14%, marking its biggest fall since August 2024, and weighing heavily on the broader market. Japanese
stocks posted their biggest drop in over six months

In Seoul, the Kospi index tumbled, sliding below the 4,000 mark amid steep declines in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The selloff, fuelled by valuation concerns, also hit recent outperformers in defense and shipbuilding, extending the Kospi’s two-day drop to 7% — its worst since August 2024.

The Korean won weakened 0.6% against the U.S. dollar to its lowest level since April as foreign investors exited local equities. The sharp decline in Kospi 200 futures, down more than 5%, triggered a brief program-trading halt during the session.

BNZ pointed to:

• just time to take pause on the equity market rally we’ve had
• the upmove has been all one-way for a while, and it’s risk-off now pervading markets
• perhaps the U.S. Fed last week was a bit of a wake-up call that the path to easier U.S. policy isn’t set in stone
• a bit of a correction overdue

CommSec:

• a bit of profit-taking going on
• uncertainty around the U.S. government, we’re into the 35th day of the federal government shutdown
• are concerns we could see higher bond yields with the U.S. government eventually reopening, and higher bond yields often translates into those growth and rate-sensitive type stocks such as technology coming under some pressure
• the tech sector is priced to perfection … it’ expensive and certainly investors are a little bit concerned that the market’s run a bit too hard

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.