Japan and South Korea Stocks Slide at Open Amid AI Debt Concerns

Japanese and South Korean stocks fell sharply in early trading on October 19 amid concern about debt-funded artificial-intelligence spending and financing costs. Seoul's KOSPI opened about 3.2% lower around 5,488.4 before recovering part of its loss as foreign investors turned net buyers. In a later early-session reading, the KOSPI was down 1.6% at 5,576.1, while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 2.3% to 63,831.8. Technology shares were among the decliners: SK hynix fell 3.2% and Samsung Electronics lost 0.9%, following weakness in U.S. AI infrastructure stocks.