[MARKET ANALYSIS] Asia-Pac stocks are mixed in the Nvidia fallout and following Huang's resignation

APAC Stocks: Mixed

• Asia-Pac stocks trade mixed following the choppy and ultimately negative performance stateside in the fallout from Nvidia and co-founder Jensen Huang's resignation.

ASX 200: -0.6%

• Index is pressured with nearly all sectors subdued and with only energy showing any meaningful resilience.

Nikkei 225: +1.7%

• Rallied back above the 61,000 level with mixed price action seen in tech stocks following the Nvidia fallout, as Jensen Huang's exit and the appointment of an interim CEO reduced some of the near-term uncertainty.

KOSPI +0.6%

• Trades higher albeit with upside capped as the latest Export and Import Price from South Korea slowed from the previous, but continued to show double-digit percentage growth.

Hang Seng & Shanghai Comp: Hang Seng -0.9% / Shanghai Comp +0.2%

• Chinese markets are mixed amid some concerns regarding China's future access to NVIDIA chips in the fallout from Huang's extramarital affairs scandal, while the mainland is somewhat cushioned after the PBoC injected liquidity via both overnight and 7-day reverse repo operations.

US Equity Futures: Positive

• Futures mildly rebounded overnight following encouraging earnings from the likes of Applied Materials and Cisco, while Anthropic’s IPO was reported to be around six times oversubscribed.

European Equity Futures -0.4%

• Indicate a lower cash market open with Euro Stoxx 50 futures down 0.3% after the cash market closed with gains of 0.1% on Thursday.

Single-name leadership shocks at a systemically important index constituent have historically produced a split regional tape rather than a uniform sell-off: markets where the stock and its supply chain carry heavy index weight take the direct hit, while others trade the read-across on sentiment only. The pattern in past episodes of founder or CEO departure under a cloud is that the initial gap gives way to a relief bid once an interim succession is named, since the market prices governance uncertainty more than the departure itself; whether that bid holds depends on board credibility and the speed of a permanent appointment. The more durable transmission channel here is not the resignation but the question of chip access for Chinese buyers, which has tended to resurface as a policy and export-control story rather than a corporate one, and which weighs on the Hong Kong leg more than the mainland when the central bank is simultaneously injecting liquidity. Korea and Taiwan typically trade as the supply-chain proxy in these episodes, with memory and foundry names decoupling from the parent depending on where orders are assumed to migrate. Worth noting is the divergence between US futures stabilising on peer earnings and European futures pointing lower, a sequencing that has often resolved with the US cash open setting the direction rather than the Asia close. As a market wrap rather than a discrete catalyst, the note carries modest informational value beyond confirming the regional split and the channels through which it is travelling.