Nikkei falls 6% as Asia follows Wall Street’s chip rout
In short
- At 06:20 Sofia time the Nikkei 225 stood at 57,264, down 6.2% and below the 60,000 mark.
- South Korea’s Kospi fell as much as 8.5% and a circuit breaker halted trading for 20 minutes; Samsung and SK Hynix lost more than 10% (TradingKey).
- Gold is about 1.5% below last night’s level (£3,008 an ounce) and Bitcoin is down 6.0% in 24 hours.
Asia opened Friday by catching up with Wall Street: at 06:20 Sofia time Japan’s Nikkei 225 was at 57,264, down 6.2%, after Thursday’s chip rout in the US. The Tokyo session ends at 08:00 Sofia time, so the figures can still change.
What happened
On Thursday the Philadelphia Semiconductor index (SOX) fell 12.2% to 9,011 – its biggest one-day drop since March 2020 and 38.4% below its June 22 record, according to Korean outlet JKN. AMD lost 17.3%, Micron 17.5%, SanDisk 22.3% and Nvidia 9.3%. The S&P 500 closed 4.36% lower at 7,353.73 and the Dow Jones 3.44% lower at 51,523.06 (HawkValue data); the Nasdaq Composite fell 5.52% to 24,315 (TradingKey). The reason given is worry that spending on AI data centers could slow, including fears of policy changes after the Democrats’ midterm win. We covered the US session last night.
In Asia the Nikkei gapped down to 60,374 at the open and fell to about 57,289 (TradingKey); AP reported a drop of more than 6% after the open. South Korea’s Kospi opened more than 2% lower, at one point lost 8.55% and triggered a level-one circuit breaker – a 20-minute pause – with the index dropping below 5,000 (4,923). Samsung Electronics was down 10.1% and SK Hynix 12.3%; both are among the largest memory-chip makers, and Micron and SanDisk had already fallen in the US the day before. TradingKey is watching whether Korea’s National Pension Service releases stabilisation funds if losses widen.
HawkValue data: gold was £3,008 an ounce at 06:40, about 1.5% below last night’s level. Bitcoin was £56,231 at 06:40 (−6.0% in 24 hours) and ether was down 8.1%.
What it means for you
The maths: £10,000 in a Nikkei 225 fund at −6.24% is a loss of £624 (before currency effects), leaving £9,376. The same £10,000 in gold at about −1.5% is a loss of close to £150, and in Bitcoin at −6.04% a loss of £604.
The gap between the indices is telling: the Nasdaq-100 fell 6.4% while the Dow Jones fell 3.4%. The hit is concentrated in tech, so your exposure depends on how many chip and AI companies your fund holds. This is a one-session move and not final. The US jobs report is due at 15:30 Sofia time. Live prices: {{/uk/stock-market-uk/|stocks}}, {{/uk/crypto-prices-uk/|crypto}} and {{/uk/gold-prices-uk/|gold}}.
Bottom line
Today Asia, Bitcoin and gold are all moving lower, but gold far less than the rest. These are facts about one session, not a forecast.
Sources: TradingKey · JKN · AP · HawkValue data at 06:10–06:40.
For information only. This is not investment advice.
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