India's stock market defied a broad sell-off across Asia on Thursday, 12 November, with the Nifty 50 turning higher after midday to finish 0.18% up at 25,299.35, while the Sensex added 31.61 points to close at 81,911.01. India and Japan's Topix were the only gainers among the region's major benchmarks, as chip stocks fell sharply after reports that Nvidia's board may remove its chief executive, Jensen Huang.

Taipei's Taiex led Asia's losses, falling 2.63% to 43,091.87 and ending a three-session winning run. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.26% to 24,008.55, its second consecutive daily fall, while China's Shenzhen Component dropped 1.68% to 11,197.98 and the Shanghai Composite lost 0.67% to 3,655.83. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.70% to 60,819.36, South Korea's Kospi fell 0.61% to 5,342.73, and Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 edged down 0.07% to 9,146.80. Singapore's Straits Times slipped 0.13% to 5,282.70.

Chip stocks lead the decline

Chipmakers and data centre operators led the selling after Nvidia shares dropped in after-hours trading in New York on news that its board was meeting to decide the chief executive's future. Taiwan's market was hit hardest because of the heavy weight of TSMC, which tumbled along with other chip names. Sharecast reports notable fallers across the region included SK Hynix, SK Square, LG Energy Solution, Alibaba, Tencent, Advantest and Ibiden.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said the main question for investors was whether Huang would leave after the board meeting held late on Wednesday, adding that a leadership scandal at one of the world's biggest companies was enough to bring the technology rally to a halt. She added that Nvidia had acted like an unofficial central bank to the AI industry, largely because of Huang's leadership, and that his departure could end the circular financing that has been a controversial part of the AI expansion.

Japan's Topix extends its winning run

Japan's broader Topix index gained 0.20% to 3,937.33, its fourth consecutive rise, even as the Nikkei fell. The divergence reflects the Nikkei's heavier weighting towards the large chip and technology names caught up in the Nvidia selling, while the broader Topix includes banks, industrials and other sectors that held up better.

Japanese economic data added to the mixed picture. Factory gate inflation rose from 6.8% to 7.1% in October, well ahead of the 6.5% consensus estimate, a reading that keeps pressure on the Bank of Japan as it weighs the path of interest rates. The data was reported alongside the market moves on Thursday.

India turns higher after a soft start

India's resilience stood out against the regional gloom. The Nifty 50 was trading slightly lower in the morning before turning higher after midday, while the Sensex finished marginally higher. The Edge's Asia market wrap records the Nifty and the Topix as the session's only gainers, with the Nifty's close of 25,299.35 measured against the previous session's close.

The session reverses the tone of Wednesday, when most Asian markets had ended higher as strong results from CoreWeave and reports of an imminent Anthropic listing revived the AI trade. Thursday's reversal shows how quickly sentiment in the region's chip-heavy markets can turn on a single company's news, and how exposed Taiwan, South Korea and Japan are to the fortunes of the AI supply chain. Investors now look to Friday, when the US Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes October producer prices at 13:30 GMT, after Asia's Friday session has closed.