Asia lower as Nikkei 225, Kospi drop by over 4%

Asia-Pacific markets traded lower on Wednesday, with South Korea's Kospi Composite and Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index leading losses amid growing concerns about stretched valuations. SoftBank Group Corp. fell as much as 13% on Wednesday, tracking a decline in AI-related firms such as Palantir, which slid 7% despite posting strong third-quarter results, as investor worries over high AI valuations mounted.

Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped by 4.10% at 3:00 am CET, going back below the 50,000 mark. South Korea's Kospi Composite went down by 4.86% a minute later. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.11% at 3:02 am CET, while on the Chinese mainland, the Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Composite decreased by 0.52% and 0.55% respectively. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined by 0.56% at 3:04 am CET.

The dollar traded 0.34% lower against the yen, going for ¥153.1010 at 3:05 am CET.