Asian Markets Open Broadly Lower, Kospi Sinks 2.31%
Asian stock markets opened lower on Tuesday (20 October 2026), as investors monitored developments in the technology sector following last week’s share sell-off.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.82% in early trading, while South Korea’s Kospi dropped 2.31% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.84%, CNBC reported.
Technology shares suffered a sharp sell-off last week, which then spread across the broader market. The pressure was driven by investor concerns about companies taking on too much debt to finance the construction of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
Interactive Brokers senior economist Jose Torres said improving sentiment about the outlook for modern technology had brought relief to market participants on Wall Street. This prompted investors to reduce their hedging positions after the cost of protection against volatility surged during Friday’s trading, ahead of an intensifying sell-off.
“Improving sentiment about the outlook for modern technology has allowed Wall Street to breathe a sigh of relief as market participants unwind hedges, after the cost of protection against volatility surged intraday on Friday, ahead of an increasingly intense sell-off,” Torres wrote, according to a report on Tuesday (20 October 2026).
Meanwhile, cloud computing company CoreWeave’s shares sought to recover some of their losses after plunging more than 25% last week. The attempted recovery was supported by Goldman Sachs upgrading its rating on the stock to Buy, although an early gain faded and the shares closed slightly lower.
Investors on Tuesday will also be watching a series of corporate earnings reports that could influence the direction of equity markets. United Airlines is scheduled to report after the market closes, while General Motors is due to release its results before the market opens.
This is a busy week for investors assessing company performance, with about 70 S&P 500 constituents scheduled to report earnings. Alongside corporate results, investors will also be monitoring US housing starts and pending home sales data on Tuesday.