{"slug": "kospi-falls-1-4-as-asian-stocks-dip-with-ai-fed-meeting-in-focus", "title": "Kospi falls 1.4% as Asian stocks dip with AI, Fed meeting in focus", "summary": "Asian stocks fell on Monday, with the Kospi Index dropping 1.4% as Samsung Electronics slumped over 6% after announcing plans to return up to 110 trillion won (US$80 billion) to investors by 2026, while investors focused on AI-related earnings from Nvidia and the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole meeting. MSCI's Asia Pacific equities gauge slipped 0.2%, and Brent crude fell 1.5% to US$93 a barrel ahead of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's press conference on economically isolating Iran.", "body_md": "# Kospi falls 1.4% as Asian stocks dip with AI, Fed meeting in focus\n\nAttention is also on US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Monday conference on a plan to economically isolate Iran\n\nASIAN stocks edged lower, with the artificial intelligence trade in focus during a week set to be shaped by earnings from chip bellwether Nvidia and the US Federal Reserve’s annual gathering, while oil fell.\n\nMSCI’s Asia Pacific equities gauge slipped 0.2 per cent, with tech shares leading the losses.\n\nThe Kospi Index – a bellwether for AI investments – fell 1.4 per cent, with Samsung Electronics slumping over 6 per cent after announcing plans to return as much as 110 trillion won (US$80 billion) to investors in 2026.\n\nEquity-index futures for US stocks declined in early Asian trading on Monday (Aug 24).\n\nAmong the main market moves, S&P 500 futures were little changed as at 9.43 am Tokyo time.\n\nThe Hang Seng futures fell 0.5 per cent, Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) fell 0.4 per cent, Japan’s Topix was little changed and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2 per cent.\n\nAlibaba Group’s [HK$80 billion (US$10.2 billion) share sale](https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/alibaba-falls-8-after-us10-billion-hong-kong-share-sale-fund-ai-spending) to compete for global leadership in AI and SoftBank Group’s plans for a record 1 trillion yen (US$6.3 billion) retail bond offering in Japan kept attention on the tech sector. Nvidia also notified customers about price hikes.\n\nElsewhere, [Brent fell 1.5 per cent to US$93 a barrel](https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/energy-commodities/oil-falls-1-ahead-us-announcement-impose-further-sanctions-iran) ahead of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s press conference detailing a plan to economically isolate Iran.\n\nTreasuries advanced across the curve, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year falling two basis points to 4.71 per cent. Government bonds in Australia and New Zealand also advanced.\n\nSEE ALSO\n\nIt is a crucial week for markets, with investors looking to Fed chair Kevin Warsh’s comments at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for clues on the path for interest rates as elevated oil prices stoke inflation pressures and bond yields soar to multi-decade highs.\n\nTraders are also bracing for Nvidia’s earnings and guidance to gauge whether 2026’s rally in AI shares has further to run.\n\nEarly attention in Asia is on Alibaba. The online retail giant-turned-AI player said on Sunday it is offering 710 million shares at HK$112.7 each.\n\nThat represents a discount of 3.6 per cent to the closing price of Alibaba’s American depositary receipts on Friday.\n\nMeanwhile, Nvidia’s price hikes will go into effect on systems shipped early 2027 and will impact systems including those with the flagship Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell chips, according to people familiar with the process.\n\nThe increases will depend on the generation of Nvidia chips and the memory configurations, they said.\n\nThe developments add to already brewing concerns over the sustainability of the AI spending boom, with soaring hardware costs threatening returns just as companies commit ever-larger sums to the technology.\n\nIn other corners of the market, the Canadian dollar weakened following the sudden collapse of trade talks with the US late on Friday that saw Washington place a 50 per cent duty on about US$20 billion worth of Canadian goods.\n\nPrime Minister Mark Carney said Canada will apply counter-tariffs on US$20 billion of US products on Sep 8 in response.\n\nGold [held its gains](https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/energy-commodities/gold-holds-near-three-month-high-debasement-trade-returns) from last week, trading around US$4,605 an ounce.\n\nAttention is also on Bessent on Monday and his [economic isolation plans for Iran](https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/international/us-vows-toughest-sanctions-history-iran-bessent-prepares-new-measures).\n\n“At dawn begins an economic D-Day – the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary,” Bessent wrote in a *Financial Times *article.\n\nTraders are also watching Bessent’s fiscal consolidation plans after last week’s announcement of [increased buybacks of long-term bonds](https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/international/global/bessent-flags-bigger-debt-buyback-potential-coming-fiscal-plan) whipsawed the Treasury market.\n\nWhile Bessent has attempted to ease concerns over US fiscal policy, the Congressional Budget Office offers little evidence of fiscal consolidation, projecting large budget deficits and debt rising to a record 120 per cent of gross domestic product in 10 years, Elias Haddad, global head of markets strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman, wrote in a note to clients.\n\n“Without credible spending cuts or revenue increases, the White House plan risks being little more than putting lipstick on a pig,” Haddad wrote. BLOOMBERG\n\nDecoding Asia newsletter: your guide to navigating Asia in a new global order. Sign up here to get Decoding Asia newsletter. Delivered to your inbox. Free.\n\nShare with us your feedback on BT's products and services\n\n[TRENDING NOW](/pulse?ref=trending-now)\n\nNational Day Rally: 8 things to know, from more childcare leave to higher BTO income ceiling\n\nStocks to watch: Mapletree Industrial Trust, OUE, OUE Healthcare\n\nWhen every phone becomes a satellite phone, what happens to Asia’s telcos?\n\nUltraGreen.ai’s big slump: Was it the Singapore market that failed the company, or vice versa?", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/kospi-falls-1-4-as-asian-stocks-dip-with-ai-fed-meeting-in-focus", "canonical_source": "https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/capital-markets-currencies/kospi-falls-1-4-asian-stocks-dip-ai-fed-meeting-focus", "published_at": "2026-08-24 01:34:08+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-24 02:43:01.224929+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-products", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["MSCI", "Kospi", "Samsung Electronics", "Nvidia", "Federal Reserve", "Alibaba Group", "SoftBank Group", "Scott Bessent"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/kospi-falls-1-4-as-asian-stocks-dip-with-ai-fed-meeting-in-focus", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/kospi-falls-1-4-as-asian-stocks-dip-with-ai-fed-meeting-in-focus.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/kospi-falls-1-4-as-asian-stocks-dip-with-ai-fed-meeting-in-focus.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/kospi-falls-1-4-as-asian-stocks-dip-with-ai-fed-meeting-in-focus.jsonld"}}