Asian equities fell on Monday October 19, as investors carried Friday’s technology-led rout on Wall Street into the new week and braced for a heavy slate of earnings and Chinese economic data.

Japan took the sharpest hit with the country’s Nikkei 225 dropping 2.15%, while the broader Topix lost 1.17%. In South Korea, the Kospi shed 1.60%.

In India, the GIFT Nifty, which indicates how the country’s stock market would open for the day predicted an opening in the red.

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Traders also watched Chinese markets closely after authorities stepped in last week to prop up shares, urging companies and state funds to buy stocks and steering some investors away from selling. Those measures followed a tech-driven slump that pushed the CSI 300 Index to its lowest level since August 2025.

The Japanese yen barely moved at 157.89 per dollar, and the offshore yuan held at 6.6839.

US stock futures offered some relief after Friday’s losses as contracts on the S&P 500 Index rose 0.2%, and those on the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.5%. Both benchmarks had fallen on Friday, when the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index slumped 3.8%.

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More than 70 S&P 500 companies report this week, including Tesla and Meta Platforms, which puts the AI trade back under scrutiny after last week’s volatility. China’s third-quarter gross domestic product figures arrive on Monday alongside other data.

Concerns also stem from doubts over whether massive spending on AI infrastructure will deliver sufficient returns. Bond volatility remains elevated, and persistent fuel and food inflation seemed to be piling pressure on central banks.

The US Federal Reserve has entered its communications blackout ahead of its October 28 policy decision, which leaves traders without guidance from policymakers.

On the other hand, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused US President Donald Trump of trying to push Kyiv into surrendering to Russia, escalating a week-long row between the two leaders.

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Trump rejected that framing in a social-media post saying “I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don’t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table. Great progress is being made.”

Oil prices meanwhile slipped but stayed elevated. Brent crude fell 0.7% on Monday after climbing on Friday, leaving it near $108 a barrel, a level that stokes inflation worries and complicates the outlook for interest rates. West Texas Intermediate eased 0.2% to $101.16 a barrel.