Investors globally reacted sharply to the early indications of a Democratic victory in the US midterm elections as the Asian markets registered a sharp sell-off on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 and South Korea's Kospi plunged up to 4.5% amid concerns over tighter regulatory scrutiny of artificial intelligence (AI) companies and a potential slowdown in AI infrastructure spending weighed heavily on technology stocks across the region. Japan's Nikkei 225 declined over 4%, while South Korea's Kospi reversed its early gains to fall nearly 4%. The broader MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped as much as 2.3%, with technology stocks leading the losses. Semiconductor-linked stocks bore the brunt of the selling, with shares of Japan's Kioxia Holdings falling over 11% and Advantest declining nearly 8%. In South Korea, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix also traded lower. Indian Markets reacted sharply in contrast to the global trend as the benchmark indices remained relatively resilient. Sensex and Nifty traded in positive territory during the morning session. The gains came even as global markets remained under pressure following the US election developments. Markets also reacted sharply to the support from easing crude oil prices, positive corporate earnings and signs of a return of foreign institutional investors (FIIs). For the Indian markets, the foreign investors have reportedly purchased Indian equities worth $821 million in November so far. This has helped to reduce their net outflows for the year to $30.59 billion. On the other hand, the brent crude futures also declined 0.6% to around $103 per barrel, offering some relief to Indian markets given the country's dependence on imported energy. Hemang Gor, Senior Research Analyst – Derivatives & Technical Research, Axis Direct said, "US futures and the dollar slid as markets weighed a potential Democratic Congressional shift that could inject volatility into the AI trade." Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities said, "US stocks fell as a sharp selloff in megacap technology weighed on sentiment. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.4% to 26,185, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 7,720 and the Dow slipped 0.25% to 52,343. Breadth was positive, with about 400 S&P 500 members rising as capital rotated out of tech, even as semiconductors dropped 1.4%. Nasdaq 100 futures were down roughly 2% overnight." Get Latest News live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Business, Companies and around the world. Vikas Kumar is Deputy Editor (Business) at Times Now driving coverage across policy, economy and markets. He possesses nearly a decade of experience i... View More