ASIA MIDDAY MOVES | Nikkei Sinks 6%, KOSPI Down 5.7% After Trading Halt as AI Rout Hits Asia

According to Kyodo News, Yonhap and Hong Kong Economic Times, Japan's Nikkei 225 was at 57,338.53 as of 04:33 UTC, down 3,739.37 points or 6.12%, extending morning losses after briefly diving more than 7% and dropping below 60,000 for the first time since May on renewed concern over AI regulation following the U.S. midterm elections. The index ended the morning session at 57,858.61, down 5.27%. Tokyo Electron was down 5.28% and Advantest 4.19% as of 04:33 UTC. Seoul's KOSPI was at 5,077.62 as of 04:32 UTC, down 306.18 points or 5.69%, after plummeting more than 8% earlier and triggering a 20-minute trading halt, the first in 16 trading sessions. The government said it will temporarily waive brokerages' 140% margin collateral requirement for three months from Nov. 9 and stands ready to add measures if volatility intensifies. Samsung Electronics was down 5.91% and SK hynix 9.02% as of 04:32 UTC. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed the morning session down 263 points at 24,533, after opening 392 points lower, with turnover of HK$150.02 billion. The Hang Seng Tech Index fell 1.7% to 4,081. Alibaba fell more than 3%, Lenovo nearly 6% and SMIC more than 4%, while Hua Hong Semiconductor rose nearly 3% after results and Meituan gained 0.6%. Taiwan's TAIEX was at 39,833.80 as of 04:32 UTC, down 1,740.92 points or 4.19%, after plunging more than 3,737 points at one point and later rebounding to touch 40,435.83. TSMC was down 4.46% as of 04:32 UTC. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index ended the morning session down 1.14% at 3,647, the Shenzhen Component Index fell 2.22% to 11,216 and the ChiNext Index dropped 3.5% to 2,477.