Asia-Pacific markets decline as tech stocks extend losses

Asia-Pacific markets fell Friday, after US tech stocks lost ground and investors' hopes of a December rate cut by the Federal Reserve faded, reports CNBC.
Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbled 2.4 per cent to close at 48,625.88, while the Topix index ended the day flat.
Tech conglomerate SoftBank plunged more than 10 per cent. Other tech stocks on the index extended declines, with Advantest stumbling 12.1 per cent, Tokyo Electron retreating more than 7 per cent, Lasertec falling over 5 per cent, and Renesas Electron down 2.65 per cent.
Japan's core inflation in October rose at its sharpest rate since July, in line with market estimates on Friday, supporting the case for interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan.
South Korea's Kospi index pared losses to fall 3.79 per cent and close at 3,853.26, and the small-cap Kosdaq retreated 3.14 per cent to 863.95. Kospi's heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix tumbled as much as 5.77 per cent and 8.76 per cent, respectively.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.59 per cent to 8,416.5.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 2.38 per cent to close at 25,220.02, while the Hang Seng Tech index ended 3.21 per cent lower at 5,395.49. Tech major Baidu stumbled 5.79 per cent, and Tencent traded 1.77 per cent lower.
Hang Seng auto stocks also took a hit. Chinese electric-vehicle maker BYD fell 2.57 per cent, while Nio and Li Auto dropped more than 4 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively.
The mainland's CSI 300 continued to decline to end 2.44 per cent at 4,453.6.
India's Nifty 50 was down 0.34 per cent, while the BSE Sensex index traded 0.29 per cent lower.
Meanwhile, bitcoin extended its decline to $83,829.94, hitting its lowest level in seven months. Ether hit its lowest since July, before recouping some losses and was last down 4.09 per cent at $2,719.56.