Asian shares mostly lower after sharp Wall Street losses on AI-related worries

Asian shares decline amid Wall Street losses, driven by AI-related concerns and SoftBank's significant drop despite profit reports.

Asia shares were trading mostly lower on Friday (February 13, 2026), tracking sharp Wall Street losses on a sell-off of technology-related stocks that investors fear could lose out from artificial intelligence disruptions. U.S. futures were mostly unchanged.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 0.8% to 57,165.13 on Friday (February 13, 2026), after it passed the 58,000 mark for the first time early Thursday (February 12, 2026). SoftBank Group, which has a focus on AI, fell 6.8% even as the company reported a quarterly profit on Thursday (February 12, 2026) building on its investments in OpenAI, among other gains.

South Korea's Kospi rose 0.4% to 5,545.49, after crossing 5,500 on Thursday (February 12, 2026), driven by gains in technology-related stocks. Samsung Electronics, the Kospi's largest listed company, was up 1.2%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.8% to 26,547.97. The Shanghai Composite index was down 0.7% to 4,105.04.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 traded 1.4% lower at 8,919.30.

On Thursday (February 12, 2026), Wall Street saw sharp losses as AI worries dampened sentiment. The S&P 500 fell for its second-worst day since Thanksgiving, dropping 1.6%, or 108.71, to 6,832.76, but it's still near an all-time high that was set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.3%, or 669.42, to 49,451.98. The Nasdaq composite lost 2%, or 469.32, to 22,597.15.