Asian markets traded mostly lower in early deals on Thursday, a decisive Democratic sweep in the US midterms flipped control of Congress. Hefty selling hit major regional semiconductor and data centre stocks due to fears of tighter regulatory scrutiny on the AI sector. Concurrently, a sharp drop in global crude oil prices dragged down regional energy giants on expectations that Washington's shifting political landscape could lead to a diplomatic de-escalation in the Middle East. Japan’s Nikkei plunged with the reduced foreign investments and on curtailed profits in export-oriented business with the stronger local currency yen.
Nikkei 225 tumbled by 979.63 points or 1.58% to 61,209.00, Straits Times down by 9.74 points or 0.18% to 5,281.69, Taiwan Weighted wilted by 1,237.35 points or 2.88% to 41,711.56, , Shanghai Composite narrowed by 4.76 points or 0.13% to 3,681.41 and KOSPI Index plunged by 241.95 points or 4.26% to 5,441.85.
On the flipside, Hang Seng surged by 736.50 points or 2.99% to 24,656.00, Jakarta Composite soared by 105.03 points or 2.13% to 5,024.80, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI index jumped by 19.30 points or 1.19% to 1,635.86.