Asia-Pacific stock markets mostly fell on Tuesday, as the final days of the year approached. Pressure came from Wall Street, where a sell-off in technology stocks continued due to investor concerns about a potential artificial intelligence (AI) bubble. This negative sentiment spread to Asian markets and made market participants cautious.

In the United States, Nvidia shares fell more than 1% on Monday, paring some of last week's sharp gains. Other technology stocks such as Palantir Technologies, Meta Platforms, and Oracle also weakened. Similarly, Wall Street's major indices closed in the red, with the S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite, and Dow Jones all recording declines.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.49%, and the Topix weakened 0.36%. SoftBank Group shares plunged more than 2% after the company announced plans to acquire DigitalBridge for US$4 billion to strengthen its AI data center business. In contrast, DigitalBridge shares actually jumped around 10%. Meanwhile, South Korea's Kospi index fell 0.41% and the Kosdaq fell 0.36%. The Australian market was slightly stronger, with the S&P/ASX 200 index opening slightly higher by 0.19%.

In Hong Kong, Hang Seng Index futures were slightly lower compared to their previous close. Investors are also monitoring geopolitical developments, particularly China's military exercises around Taiwan, announced on Monday. Looking ahead, market attention will be focused on the release of US house price data and the minutes of the Federal Reserve's December meeting, which are expected to provide clues to the direction of monetary policy next year. (az)

Source: Newsmaker.id