Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225<\/a> index tumbled 2.03%. Shares of AI-related stocks were the key drag: SoftBank<\/a> was down over 8%, semiconductor testing equipment maker Advantest<\/a> lost more than 7%, chipmaker Renesas Electronics<\/a> fell 4%, and Tokyo Electron<\/a>, a chip production equipment maker, declined 2.17%.<\/p>\n The Topix index retreated 1.18%.<\/p>\n South Korea’s Kospi plunged 3.1% in volatile trading, while the small-cap Kosdaq lost 3.45%. The country’s memory chip giants, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, lost 2.62% and 3.71%, respectively.<\/p>\n Australia’s S&P\/ASX 200 fell 0.72%<\/p>\n Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index<\/a> fell 1.14%, while the mainland’s CSI 300 lost 0.3%.<\/p>\n China’s October exports plunged 1.1%<\/a> in U.S. dollar terms from a year earlier, official data showed Friday, missing expectations of a 3% growth in a Reuters survey and a steep drop from the 8.3% surge in September<\/a>.<\/p>\n Imports also missed expectations, growing 1% year on year in October. Economists had expected a 3.2% growth, down from 7.4% in September. 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 India’s Nifty 50 lost 0.63%, while the Sensex index was 0.49% lower.<\/p>\n Shares of Bharti Airtel slumped after a unit of Singapore-based telecom firm Singtel announced<\/a> Friday it had sold a stake in the Indian company for 1.5 billion Singapore dollars ($1.15 billion).<\/p>\n Singtel shares gained as much as 5.11% on Friday, hitting an all-time intraday high, while Airtel lost as much as 4.34%.<\/p>\n Stock Chart IconStock chart icon![\"hide](\"https:\/\/static-redesign.cnbcfm.com\/dist\/a54b41835a8b60db28c2.svg\")
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