SHENZHEN, CHINA – AUGUST 26: An aerial view of the Shenzhen skyline on August 26, 2020 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province of China. (Photo by He Shaoping\/VCG via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Asia-Pacific markets opened lower Friday, tracking Wall Street declines on persistent concerns over lofty valuations in artificial intelligence stocks.<\/p>\n
Shares of major AI companies fell Thursday stateside, weighing down on the broader U.S. market. The biggest declines were from Nvidia<\/a>, Microsoft<\/a>, Palantir Technologies<\/a>, Broadcom<\/a> and Advanced Micro Devices<\/a>.<\/p>\n Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225<\/a> index tumbled 1.38% at the open. Shares of AI-related stocks dragged on the index: SoftBank<\/a> was down nearly 8%, semiconductor testing equipment maker Advantest<\/a> lost more than 6%, chipmaker Renesas Electronics<\/a> fell 4%, and Tokyo Electron<\/a>, a chip production equipment maker, declined 1.56%.<\/p>\n The Topix index retreated 0.5%.<\/p>\n South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.46%, while the small-cap Kosdaq lost 0.92%.<\/p>\n Australia’s S&P\/ASX 200 fell 0.27%.<\/p>\n Investors in Asia are watching for China’s October trade data, due later in the day. Economists polled by Reuters expect exports to have slowed to 3% year on year, down from an 8.3% surge in September<\/a>, while imports are forecast to fall to 3.2% from 7.4%.<\/p>\n That comes as weak domestic demand continues to weigh on the back of a prolonged housing slump, rising job insecurity, and the tapering of consumption-focused stimulus measures.<\/p>\n