Asian stock markets were mixed on Friday, 13 November, as Japan led gains while Hong Kong lagged, with investors weighing the fallout from the leadership shake-up at Nvidia and rising bets on further US interest rate hikes.

Tokyo was the standout. The Nikkei 225 rose about 1.4% to near 61,650 by midday before paring its gains to around 0.8% near 61,300 in afternoon trade, while the broader Topix gained about 0.3%. The rally came despite the turmoil at Nvidia, as bargain hunting lifted semiconductor shares in Japan and South Korea.

Hong Kong moved in the opposite direction. The Hang Seng fell about 1% to near 23,770, extending an early dip, as concerns over Nvidia's leadership change and its potential fallout for China's technology sector weighed on sentiment. Mainland China's Shanghai Composite edged up about 0.2%, a steadier performance than Hong Kong's.

South Korea swung sharply during the session. The Kospi opened about 2% higher but reversed the advance to trade about 0.7% lower near 5,300, with SK Hynix down more than 2% and Samsung Electronics off about 0.6%. The smaller Kosdaq index held a gain of about 1.5%, helped by buying in smaller technology names.

Nvidia fallout still weighs on AI shares

The Nvidia story remained the main weight on AI-linked stocks across the region. Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia's chief executive after the company launched an investigation into his relationship with a suspected Chinese spy, and chief financial officer Colette Kress stepped in as interim chief executive. Nvidia shares fell about 3% in extended US trading after dropping about 4% in the regular session on Thursday.

Analysts said investors were also looking at AMD, Arista and Broadcom as possible alternatives to Nvidia, and appetite for artificial intelligence remained strong ahead of Anthropic's upcoming initial public offering next week, which is reportedly oversubscribed by roughly six times.

In Hong Kong, Chinese AI satellite developer Adaspace Technology dipped 1.8% in its market debut after raising HK$750 million. Traders are also awaiting Hong Kong's third-quarter GDP release, alongside earnings next week from major Chinese technology firms including Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu and JD.com.

Fed hike bets push bond yields higher

Rising bets on further Federal Reserve rate hikes spread through Asian markets on Friday. Japan's 10-year government bond yield jumped to around 2.87% as Japanese government bonds followed US Treasuries lower, with the US 10-year yield near 5.13%. The Japanese yen traded near the psychologically significant level of 160 per dollar, while the South Korean won strengthened to around 1,330 per dollar.

The shift in rate expectations followed hotter-than-expected US inflation data earlier in the week. The US Consumer Price Index rose 0.4% in October, with core CPI up 0.3%, above the 0.2% economists had expected. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller had said the central bank should consider a half-point rate hike in December if core CPI came in around 0.3% or higher.

Markets will now be watching the US producer price index, due later on Friday, for further clues on inflation and the likely direction of monetary policy.

Bitcoin and gold move in opposite directions

Bitcoin fell more than 6% to below $69,000, its lowest level since August, amid continued outflows from US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Gold, by contrast, rose close to 1%, rebounding past $3,900 per ounce as investors sought a haven from the equity sell-off.

Brent crude held near $96 a barrel despite an unverified Iranian claim of a strike on a US radar in Bahrain. US stock futures ticked higher on Friday as the initial wave of selling in Nvidia shares began to stabilise, with futures tied to the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 gaining between 0.2% and 0.6%.

Wall Street had ended lower on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.36% to 52,297.09, the S&P 500 losing 0.35% to 7,592.40 and the Nasdaq Composite slipping 0.39% to 25,366.09.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice.