South Korea shares fall as Asian stocks slide on global sell-off, chip rout

Asian stock markets fell on Wednesday after a sell-off in global equities, driven by rising US inflation and speculation of further interest rate hikes. The MSCI Asia Pacific equities gauge dropped 2.2%, marking its lowest level since July. South Korea's Kospi Index, a key indicator for artificial intelligence investments, led regional declines with a 7% drop, as chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each plummeted more than 8%.

The S&P 500 futures fell 0.3%, Hang Seng futures slipped 1.1%, Nikkei 225 futures dropped 4.2%, Japan's Topix declined 2%, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3%. Tech sentiment remained weak, with Nasdaq 100 Index futures retreating 0.8%. The rapid rise in US inflation, fueled by higher oil prices following the Middle East conflict, prompted traders to anticipate more aggressive Federal Reserve tightening, potentially leading to additional rate hikes.

While Treasuries initially fell, they recovered most of their losses as investors sought the safety of bonds with yields nearing multi-year highs. The US dollar weakened amid the market turmoil. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh emphasized that he would not use his views on monetary policy to manipulate markets. However, the inflation surprise is expected to intensify scrutiny of his comments later on Thursday.

Market expectations point to around 40 basis points of Fed rate hikes by the end of January, with the odds of an October hike also increasing. The AI sector is under scrutiny, with CoreWeave shares plunging 17% and Anthropic reporting a third-quarter revenue of US$16.8 billion.