TOKYO : Asian stocks slid on Thursday as chip-sector stocks tracked overnight declines by Wall Street peers and Facebook owner Meta Platforms warned of accelerating costs for artificial intelligence.
More megacap tech earnings are due later in the day from Apple and Amazon.
The yen hovered close to a three-month low against the dollar, weighed down by political instability after a drubbing for Japan’s ruling coalition in parliamentary elections last weekend, which could delay a normalisation of monetary policy.
The Bank of Japan will announce a rate decision on Thursday, with no change widely expected.
More broadly, the dollar was on the back foot after extending its retreat from near a three-month peak to major peers on Wednesday. Traders were looking ahead warily to a pivotal week that includes monthly U.S. non-farm payrolls on Friday, the presidential election next Tuesday and a Federal Reserve policy decision next Thursday. Gold extended its record high.
Japan’s Nikkei share average fell 0.5 per cent as of 0155 GMT. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.3 per cent.
North Korea stirred regional tensions by test firing what a U.S. official said was an intercontinental ballistic missile into the sea off the reclusive nation’s east coast on Thursday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2 per cent, but mainland Chinese blue chips slipped 0.7 per cent. Investors are awaiting more clarity on stimulus from Beijing next week, when officials convene a week-long congress.
Taiwanese markets were shuttered due to a typhoon.
Nasdaq futures pointed 0.45 per cent lower after the cash index declined 0.56 per cent overnight. The Philadelphia SE semiconductor index slumped 3.35 per cent, with Advanced Micro Devices tumbling more than 10 per cent following dour forecasts.
The U.S. dollar index was steady at 104.15 following its pullback from the highest since Aug. 2 at 104.63 reached on Tuesday.
The dollar edged up 0.05 per cent