Asia-Pacific markets set to open subdued after Wall Street’s AI-linked stocks slide
A pedestrian walks past an electronic quotation board displaying the Nikkei 225 stock prices on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo on March 23, 2026.
Kazuhiro Nogi | Afp | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were set to open mixed Friday after a rotation out of chip stocks on Wall Street lifted the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record close overnight.
The Chicago futures contract for Japan’s Nikkei 225 was at 67,450 and its Osaka counterpart last traded at 67,610 compared with the index’s previous close of 67,470.69.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures last traded at 25,158, lower than the index’s Thursday close of 25,253.40.
Futures for Australia’s S&P/ASX 200′s were last at 8,739, higher than the index’s previous close of 8,686.10.
Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied to a fresh all-time high, while the Nasdaq Composite underperformed as investors appeared to rotate out of chip names in favor of non-tech stocks.
The 30-stock Dow jumped 874.86 points, or 1.73%, to close at a record 51,561.93. The Nasdaq lost 0.09% and ended at 26,830.96, while the S&P 500 rose 0.41% to 7,584.31.
The rotation was sparked by a sell-off in Broadcom that led investors to pare exposure to AI-linked stocks. The chipmaker slid more than 12% after its fiscal second-quarter revenue missed estimates. Chip names, which led the latest leg higher in the market’s rally to record levels, fell broadly. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) lost more than 1%. Arm Holdings shed more than 4%, while Micron Technology fell close to 8%.
Stocks also came under pressure on Middle East worries. Mixed messages have emerged recently out of negotiations to end the war, which has upset global markets and caused oil and gasoline prices to spike.
— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.
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