[MARKET UPDATE] Asia-Pac stocks begin mixed with underperformance in the KOSPI following the continued tech rout stateside which saw the Nasdaq 100 dip into a correction, while demand is contained amid the holiday in Japan and looming US midterm elections

Asia-Pac stocks begin mixed with underperformance in the KOSPI following the continued tech rout stateside which saw the Nasdaq 100 dip into a correction, while demand is contained amid the holiday in Japan and looming US midterm elections.

Korean equities underperforming on a US tech selloff is the established pattern rather than the exception: the KOSPI's heavy concentration in semiconductors gives it one of the highest betas in the region to the Nasdaq, and episodes of this kind have tended to see it amplify, not merely track, moves in US megacap tech through the memory-chip supply chain. A correction label on the Nasdaq 100 is itself a media milestone more than a mechanical trigger, but it has historically coincided with systematic deleveraging and CTA flow that keeps pressure on high-beta markets for a few sessions regardless of fundamentals. Holiday-thinned Tokyo liquidity is the standard caveat on sessions like this: price action in the region is less informative, and gaps tend to get retraced or extended once Japan returns and cash equity volume normalises. The midterm overhang fits a well-worn calendar pattern in which US equities chop sideways into the vote and have historically firmed once the result removes policy uncertainty, with the tail risk concentrated in contested outcomes rather than the result itself. The tells ahead are whether US futures stabilise during the European session, how semiconductor names trade relative to the broader Korean tape, and whether the tech rout broadens into credit or stays confined to equity factor rotation.