Tech Rout Sweeps Asia: Nikkei Drops About 6% and Korea and Taiwan Slide Over 8% at the Open

Asian equity markets fell sharply on Friday, 6 November 2026 (15 Aban 1405) under a wave of technology-stock selling. Mehr, citing Reuters, reported that Japan's Nikkei dropped about 6 percent and was on course for its steepest one-day fall since April 2025. The main indices of South Korea and Taiwan fell more than 8 percent after the open, then recovered part of the losses as economic officials stepped in. Sahmino's data had the Nikkei 225 at 57,434.7 at 10:15 Tehran time, 5.96 percent below the previous session.

Samsung Electronics lost about 10 percent, SK Hynix about 12 percent and Kioxia about 14 percent, and TSMC at one point was down 8.5 percent. SoftBank fell 11 percent and the cost of insuring its debt against default reached a four-year high. South Korea temporarily eased limits on retail leveraged investing and, according to sources who spoke to Reuters, Taiwan's finance ministry asked heads of state-run banks to support the market.

The slide followed a 5.5 percent fall in the Nasdaq on Thursday that wiped roughly $3 trillion off S&P 500 companies. Mehr, citing Reuters, links the selling to worries about tighter oversight of artificial intelligence after the Democratic election win and doubts over returns on heavy AI spending. In currencies, the dollar index rose 0.3 percent to 101.74 and the yen strengthened to 157.27 per dollar; the two-year US Treasury yield fell about 10 basis points.