Asia markets drop as Powell flags valuation risks, Wall Street weakness

September 24, 2025 (MLN): Asia markets fell Wednesday, following Wall Street declines after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell remarked that “equity prices are fairly highly valued” and signaled uncertainty over the rate-cutting path, calling the situation “challenging.”

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.61%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged down 0.33%, while the Topix shed 0.35%.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand revealed Tuesday that Anna Breman will become the new governor, the first woman to hold the role.

She will begin her five-year term on December 1, succeeding acting governor Christian Hawkesby, whose interim appointment ends in October after the unexpected departure of Adrian Orr in March.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.11%, and the Kosdaq fell 0.39%. However, defense stocks outperformed, with Hanwha Aerospace, Korea Aerospace, and Hyundai Rotem gaining between 2% and 4%.

Their advance followed comments by U.S. President Donald Trump, who reaffirmed support for Ukraine and pledged continued weapons supplies to NATO, a bloc increasingly sourcing military equipment from South Korea.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and mainland China’s CSI 300 were little changed. The Hong Kong Observatory warned that Super Typhoon Ragasa is lashing high grounds and southern areas with hurricane-force winds, heavy showers, and thunderstorms.

Shares of Alibaba in Hong Kong surged more than 6% after CEO Eddie Wu announced plans to increase investment in artificial intelligence.

At the company’s annual Apsara Conference in Hangzhou, Wu confirmed that Alibaba is moving ahead with its 380 billion yuan ($53bn) AI infrastructure investment and intends to expand it further.

The firm also introduced its largest AI language model, Qwen3-Max.

Australia’s August consumer price index rose 3% year on year, above the 2.9% forecast in a Reuters poll.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes ended lower. The S&P 500 slipped 0.55% to 6,656.92 after touching a new intraday high and a record close on Monday.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped nearly 1% to 22,573.47, weighed down by losses in AI leaders such as Nvidia, Oracle and Amazon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 88.76 points, or 0.19%, to 46,292.78.

Copyright Mettis Link News