Nikkei Slides 6.2% After Wall Street Tech Rout

Global equity markets continued their volatile stretch on Friday as a sharp selloff in artificial intelligence stocks spread from American exchanges to Asia.

Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark index fell 6.2% in morning trading, closing at 57,271.19. South Korea's Kospi index suffered an even steeper decline, dropping 7.1% to 5,000.25. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lagged behind the region, losing 0.7% to 9,003.40.

The regional drop followed a turbulent session on Wall Street Thursday. The S&P 500 index fell 4.4%, marking its worst single-day performance since President Donald Trump announced tariffs in April 2025. That loss erased the index's strong gains from Wednesday, which had been its best day in three months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 1,833 points, or 3.4%, to 51,523.06. The Nasdaq composite, heavily weighted toward technology stocks, tumbled 5.5% to 24,315.00. That drop left the Nasdaq 11.9% below its all-time high set last month, a decline investors classify as a correction.

Nvidia, the leading chipmaker for AI infrastructure, fell 9.3% Thursday and weighed heavily on the S&P 500. The stock is now down 2.6% for the year, a sharp reversal from annual gains of roughly 39%, 171%, and 239% over the past three years. Advanced Micro Devices dropped 17.3%, while CoreWeave, a cloud-based AI chip rental service, fell 9.8%. GE Vernova, which supplies power equipment for data centers, lost 7.5%.

Investors are reacting to growing concerns that the cost of borrowing for new AI data centers is rising, potentially slowing construction. Tuesday's U.S. midterm elections added another layer of uncertainty. Democrats won key national votes, raising the possibility of government pauses on new data center projects. Voters across the political spectrum have expressed concern about rising power bills linked to energy-intensive data centers.

A slowdown in construction would reduce demand for AI chips, electricity, and other services currently driving U.S. economic growth. In bond markets, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.84% from 4.90% late Wednesday. The yield had been 4.95% on election night and above 5.30% last month. This decline suggests investors are moving into U.S. Treasuries as a safer asset amid stock volatility, despite better-than-expected weekly jobless claims data.

In currency and energy markets, the U.S. dollar strengthened to 157.83 Japanese yen from 157.65. The euro dipped to $1.1216 from $1.1218. Benchmark U.S. crude oil added 0.60% to $91.06 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 3.88% to $98.29 per barrel as uncertainty persists regarding the war with Iran.