THE CRASH WENT GLOBAL — NIKKEI IN BEAR MARKET, KOREA HALTS TRADING

Japan's Nikkei 225 plunged more than 7% on Friday as Wall Street's AI rout crossed the Pacific, briefly falling below 57,000 before recovering to 57,576 by midday in Tokyo — still down 5.7% on the day and roughly 21% below its June record, past the conventional bear-market line.

The selling hit Japan's AI suppliers hardest: Rohm tumbled about 20%, Furukawa Electric lost more than 19%, Resonac fell roughly 15% and Kioxia dropped over 12%, while SoftBank fell about 11% and Advantest suffered double-digit losses. The broader Topix fell about 5.8%, showing the rout had spread beyond a few tech leaders.

South Korea's Kospi briefly fell more than 8%, triggering a trading halt, as investors reassessed whether the AI build-out will pay for itself — and whether a Democratic Congress will slow data-center construction. One strategist called it a correction in richly valued tech shares, but said it was too early to identify a bottom.