TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average logged its worst week in more than six years on Friday as tech stocks tracked overnight losses on Wall Street, with investors worrying that new political equations in the US could weigh on AI development.
The Japanese gauge suffered its biggest daily decline since April 2025 as chipmakers and AI-linked stocks extended a rout that began on Wednesday as it became clear that the Democrats had won control of the US Congress.
Investors fear that Congress could stall AI infrastructure expansion and force a reckoning for smaller firms whose capacity to raise funds has already been limited by higher interest rates and tighter financial conditions.
The tech-heavy Nikkei ended Friday down 6% at 57,434.77. The selloff was broad-based, with 222 of the index’s 225 components declining and only three rising.
For the week, the benchmark was down 9.3%, its worst weekly decline since March 2020 during the pandemic.
In the US, on Thursday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite posted their steepest daily falls since April 2025.
The broader Topix lost 5.9%, with all 33 industry sectors sliding.