South Korea's Kospi leads losses in Asia markets after Wall Street tech rout
Published Thu, Feb 5 2026
6:56 PM EST
Updated 15 Min Ago
Lim Hui Jie@in/hui-jie-lim-a7371176/WATCH LIVEKey Points
- South Korea's Kospi led losses in Asia for a second day.
- This follows a tech sell-off on Wall Street.
- Alphabet's capex plans and Qualcomm's forecast rattled investor confidence.
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Restored Cheonggyecheon at night, Seoul.
Renan Gicquel | Moment Open | Getty Images
South Korea's Kospi plunged as much as 5% Friday, leading another weak session in Asia markets after a tech-led rout on Wall Street.
The South Korean index pared losses and was last down 3.20%; the small-cap Kosdaq was down 3.17%.
Index heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell 3.08% and 3.56% respectively, while Hyundai Motor was 5.42% lower. Defense heavyweight Hanwha Aerospace was 5.87% down, while LG Energy Solution lost 3.67%.
South Korea's market, which is heavily weighted in favor of companies in the chip and automotive industries, have seen sharp swings in the past week as sentiment over tech stocks sours.
Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei 225 shed 0.57%, on pace for a third straight day of losses. The broad-based Topix was marginally lower.
Stocks of Japanese pharmaceutical makers also slumped on Friday, after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his website offering discounted prescription medicines.
Sumitomo Pharma dropped over 5%, while Takeda Pharmaceutical, Japan's largest drugmaker, fell 1.75%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped about 2% on open, while mainland China's CSI 300 down marginally.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 also showed signs of weakness, falling 1.84%.
On the commodities front, spot silver prices continued their decline, dropping 1.63% after crashing about 13% on Thursday.
In the U.S., tech giant Alphabet came under pressure after reporting fourth-quarter results and flagging a sharp rise in artificial intelligence spending, with capital expenditure totaling $185 billion for 2026. Shares lost 0.5%
Qualcomm slid more than 8% after posting a weaker-than-expected forecast because of a global memory shortage.
Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.20%, while the S&P 500 lost 1.23%, pushing it into negative territory for the year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite posted the biggest decline, dropping 1.59%.
âCNBC's Sean Conlon and Sarah Min contributed to this report.