Asian equities retreat amid Nvidia turmoil and rising yields ahead of Anthropic IPO; Bitcoin drops below $70K
Asian equity markets traded mostly lower following a triggered by sudden leadership turmoil at Nvidia, though Japan bucked the regional downturn.Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.52% to 61,128.00 level, while the traded near the psychologically significant 160-per-dollar level. South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI fell 1.10% to around 5,284.54. The South Korean won strengthened to around 1,330 per dollar. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index () fell 1.51%, to around 23,644.00, and mainland China’s Shanghai Composite () fell 0.78% to 3,627.89, while the Shenzhen Component fell 1.88% to 10,987.86. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 () fell 0.71% to 9,082.20.Sentiment across the global AI sector was rattled after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stepped down amid reports of extramarital affairs, with CFO Colette Kress stepping in as interim chief executive. Despite the disruption, investor appetite for artificial intelligence remains strong ahead of Anthropic’s upcoming IPO next week, which is reportedly oversubscribed by roughly six times.In regional corporate news, Chinese AI satellite developer Adaspace Technology dipped 1.8% in its Hong Kong debut after raising HK$750 million. Traders are also awaiting Hong Kong’s third-quarter GDP release alongside next week's earnings reports from major Chinese tech firms—Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, and JD.com.Gold prices rebounded past $3,900 per ounce, while crude oil held steady above $88 per barrel. Rising bond yields pressured non-yielding assets, pushing Bitcoin down more than 3% to under $70,000, its lowest mark since mid-August.U.S. stock futures ticked higher on Friday as the initial wave of selling in Nvidia shares began to stabilize.Content provided by Seeking Alpha is intended for information purposes only, and that Seeking Alpha does not offer any personalist investment advice and is not a licensed securities dealer, broker, US investment adviser or investment bank.