Nikkei enters bear market as Asian stocks crash on AI sell-off; Kospi triggers circuit breaker - CNBC TV18

The Nikkei 225 has entered a bear market, meaning it has fallen at least 20 percent from its recent peak, as Asian equities broadly sold off on a wave of selling tied to artificial intelligence-linked technology stocks. The Kospi triggered a market-wide circuit breaker, a temporary trading halt imposed when an index drops by a set threshold within a single session, signaling acute stress in South Korean equities. The transmission channel appears to be risk appetite and valuation repricing: AI-exposed semiconductor and hardware names carry heavy index weights in both markets, so a sector-wide drawdown propagates quickly into headline indices and forces leveraged and momentum-driven positions to unwind. Japanese and South Korean equities, along with chipmakers and AI-supply-chain companies, are the most directly exposed, while regional currencies such as the yen and won could face additional pressure if foreign investors reduce holdings. Traders should watch the next US semiconductor earnings and AI capital expenditure guidance, as well as the Bank of Japan's policy signals, for evidence of whether the selling reflects a durable reassessment of AI demand or

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