News Summary

• South Korea's stock market suffered steepest losses amid a region-wide sell-off.
• Investors followed Wall Street's lead to unload high-priced tech equities linked to AI.
• The benchmark KOSPI fell nearly 9 percent in early morning trading.
• Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, South Korea’s two biggest firms by market capitalisation, both suffered heavy losses.
• Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 3.9 percent, while the SSE Composite Index in Shanghai and Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong slid 1.7 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.