Japanese and South Korean stock markets follow US tech stocks lower, Nikkei 225 Index drops over 2%

ChainCatcher news, according to Golden Ten Data, the Asia-Pacific markets opened lower on Friday, affected by the decline in US tech stocks, and investors' hopes for a Federal Reserve rate cut in December have weakened. The Nikkei 225 index fell more than 2% at the start of trading, with SoftBank Group shares down 8%; South Korea's KOSPI index expanded its decline to 4%, Samsung Electronics fell 5%, and SK Hynix dropped 9%. In addition, the latest employment report shows that the US economy added 119,000 jobs, exceeding expectations.