The leading Asian stock exchanges largely pointed downwards after the technology sector on Wall Street plummeted due to uncertainty in the wake of the Chinese AI company Deepseek's breakthrough.
In Tokyo, the key Nikkei 225 had lost 1.1 percent by lunchtime, while the broader Topix index hovered around zero.
From Hong Kong, calm tones were heard as the Hang Seng index cautiously climbed 0.1 percent.
Shanghai's composite index moved sideways, while the composite index in Shenzhen lost 1.3 percent.
