Asia stocks slide as tech sell-off sends Kospi down 8.8%
Why it matters: The drop spilled from US AI shares, and South Korea's plunge was sharp enough to trigger a 20-minute circuit breaker.
Asian stocks fell sharply Monday as investors pulled back from technology shares, dragging benchmarks across Singapore, South Korea and Japan lower. In Singapore, the Straits Times Index dropped as much as 1.7% to 4,966.54 shortly after the open. South Korea's Kospi sank as much as 8.8%, prompting a 20-minute circuit breaker, after closing down 5.5% on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 lost more than 4%, while the broader Topix fell nearly 3%. Singapore-listed chip names including UMS Integration, CSE Global and AEM were among the hardest hit. The retreat followed losses in US-listed tech stocks on Friday as fears grew that the artificial intelligence rally had run too hot and that a Federal Reserve rate hike could add pressure.