Australia, Victoria, Melbourne, buildings on bank of Yarra river
Peter Adams | Stone | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets opened mostly lower Tuesday, after Wall Street declined as investors continued to rotate out of the artificial intelligence trade in the U.S.
Shares of AI plays, like Oracle and Broadcom, slipped more than 5% and 2% respectively, while Microsoft also saw some losses.
Over in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started the day up 0.13%.
Flash purchasing managers index numbers from S&P Global showed that business activity expanded at a slower pace in Australia in December, with the composite PMI falling to 51.1 from November’s 52.6.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.94%, dragged by basic materials and real estate stocks, while the Topix dropped 0.96%. Japan’s flash composite PMI also indicated a softer expansion in December, coming in at 51.5 compared to the previous month’s 52.
South Korea’s Kospi continued to slide for a second straight day as it opened 1.13% lower, while the small-cap Kosdaq was 1.8% down.
Shares of Korea Zinc plunged as much as 11.24% after the company reportedly agreed to sell $1.9 billion of shares to a joint venture controlled by the U.S. government and unnamed U.S.-based strategic investors, according to Reuters.
Medical treatment company ADEL signed a drug development deal with French pharma giant Sanofi worth up to $1.04 billion, according to the South Korean-based company late Monday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures were at 25,574, lower than the HSI’s last close of 25,628.88.