Why it matters
- South Korea's Kospi plunged 7.57% to 5,554.22 for a seventh straight loss, as Samsung Electronics fell 9.48% and SK hynix 10.85%, Trading Economics said. A sell-side trading halt was triggered.
- Japan's Nikkei 225 sank 4.90% to 64,425.95, its biggest one-day drop since March, and Taiwan's Taiex lost 3.41%, as worries over AI spending and higher U.S. rates hit chip stocks.
- India bucked the trend, with the Sensex up 2.11% and the Nifty 50 up 1.66%. TSMC reported Thursday that third-quarter revenue rose 50.9% to NT$1.49 trillion.
Session recap: what happened in this region's trading day, with sources.
Asian stock markets tumbled on Thursday, Oct. 15, as a global sell-off in technology shares deepened after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data. South Korea's Kospi plunged 7.57% to 5,554.22 and Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 4.90% to 64,425.95, according to Yahoo Finance data. India was the main exception: the Sensex jumped 2.11%.
| Market | Thursday close | Change vs. Wednesday |
|---|---|---|
| Nikkei 225 (Japan) | 64,425.95 | −4.90% |
| Kospi (South Korea) | 5,554.22 | −7.57% |
| Taiex (Taiwan) | 46,969.87 | −3.41% |
| Hang Seng (Hong Kong) | 24,062.72 | −1.03% |
| Hang Seng China Enterprises | 8,103.27 | −0.98% |
| Shanghai Composite (China) | 3,707.48 | −1.59% |
| Shenzhen Component (China) | 11,816.79 | −2.43% |
| CSI 300 (China) | 4,166.01 | −1.23% |
| S&P/ASX 200 (Australia) | 8,719.70 | −0.09% |
| Sensex (India) | 74,315.61 | +2.11% |
| Nifty 50 (India) | 22,997.35 | +1.66% |
Source: Yahoo Finance daily chart data. Changes are from Wednesday, Oct. 14, closes; the CSI 300 change uses Wednesday's 4,217.68 close.
Why did the Kospi and Nikkei fall today?
Doubts about the payoff from heavy AI spending, plus fears of higher borrowing costs, drove the rout. The Kospi fell for a seventh straight session to its lowest since late July, Trading Economics said. It reported that Samsung Electronics dropped 9.48%, SK hynix 10.85% and Samsung Electro-Mechanics 15.50%, and that the slide triggered a sell-side trading halt. U.S. consumer prices rose 3.7% from a year earlier in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday, and the Nasdaq fell 1.88% that day; see our Americas Wednesday recap.
The Nikkei's 4.90% drop was its biggest one-day fall since March, Trading Economics said. Kioxia fell 12.5%, SoftBank Group 8.9% and Lasertec 13.3%, and banks also slipped, it reported. The yen firmed to about 157.9 per dollar around 12:55 GMT, from about 158.3 late Wednesday, Yahoo Finance data showed, after Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama warned that Tokyo was ready to intervene again, according to Trading Economics.
Taiwan and TSMC results
The Taiex lost 1,655.96 points, or 3.41%, its lowest close since Sept. 17, Trading Economics said. TSMC fell 2.0%, while MediaTek dropped 6.9% and ASE Technology 9.9%, it reported.
TSMC said Thursday that third-quarter revenue rose 50.9% from a year earlier to NT$1.49 trillion and net income rose 68.7% to NT$763.06 billion, or NT$29.43 a share. It forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $52.3 billion to $54.3 billion, its release said. Global Market News has the full story.
China, Hong Kong, Australia and India
Shanghai and Shenzhen both closed at their lowest since July 2025, Trading Economics said, as investors weighed possible new European Union trade measures against China. AI-linked stocks such as Eoptolink Technology, down 7.49%, led the losses. The Hang Seng fell 1.03%, with Lenovo down 14.5% and SMIC 4.0%, it reported.
Australia's ASX 200 slipped 0.09%. BHP fell 4.8%, but losses eased after September employment unexpectedly fell and the jobless rate held at 4.7%, cutting bets on another Reserve Bank hike, Trading Economics said.
India's Sensex posted its biggest gain since June 12, led by IT and bank stocks, Trading Economics said. Tech Mahindra rose 4.6% and ICICI Bank 4.2%.
What comes next?
Chip stocks are also falling in Europe; see our Europe Thursday recap. U.S. producer prices, retail sales and futures are in our day-ahead guide, and live levels are on the markets page.
Follow the rest of the trading day on our global market today page, with the latest Asia, Europe and Americas session recaps.
Sources
- Trading Economics, South Korea stock market (Kospi)
- Trading Economics, Japan stock market (Nikkei 225) and Japanese yen
- Trading Economics, Taiwan stock market (Taiex)
- Trading Economics, China stock market (Shanghai Composite)
- Trading Economics, Hong Kong stock market (Hang Seng)
- Trading Economics, Australia stock market (ASX 200)
- Trading Economics, India stock market (Sensex)
- TSMC, third-quarter 2026 earnings release (SEC filing)
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index, September 2026
- Yahoo Finance, chart data for the Nikkei 225, Kospi, Taiex, Hang Seng, Hang Seng China Enterprises, Shanghai Composite, Shenzhen Component, CSI 300, S&P/ASX 200, Sensex, Nifty 50 and USD/JPY