Asian shares fell on Friday morning as investors turned cautious ahead of the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy decision, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s Kospi both dropping sharply while Australia’s market bucked the trend and rose.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell more than 2% in Friday trading, while the broader Topix index edged about 0.65% lower, according to NDTV Profit’s market report. South Korea’s Kospi plunged about 4%, at one point falling below the 5,700 level, with Korean outlets reporting intraday falls of more than 4% by late morning Seoul time. In contrast, Australia’s ASX 200 gained 1.02% and New Zealand’s NZX 50 rose 0.33%.
What is driving the sell-off
The immediate trigger was disappointment over United States technology earnings. Alphabet shares plunged about 12% after its results reignited doubts about the returns on massive artificial-intelligence spending, and after-hours falls in Amazon and Intel added to the pressure, according to market reports. That hit Asia’s chip-heavy markets hardest: in Japan, SoftBank fell more than 5% and chip equipment makers Tokyo Electron and Advantest fell about 4% and 5% respectively, while in South Korea SK Hynix tumbled more than 6% and Samsung Electronics slipped more than 3%.
A second factor was a reported security incident at cryptocurrency exchange Binance. CoinDesk reported on October 29 that Binance suffered an exploit involving more than $5.7 billion in crypto assets according to Arkham data, which would make it the largest crypto theft on record. Binance said its teams were aware of reports of a potential security issue and were actively investigating, suspended withdrawals, and said user funds were safe, with co-chief executive Yi He saying the platform would cover hacking losses. Tether and Circle said they froze more than $2.3 billion in stablecoins linked to the incident. Estimates of the amount involved vary between trackers, and Binance has not confirmed a final figure, so the $5.7 billion figure should be read as a tracker estimate, not a confirmed Binance loss total.
The Bank of Japan decision in focus
The Bank of Japan is widely expected to keep its policy rate at 1.25% at the two-day meeting ending on Friday, Reuters reported, forgoing a back-to-back increase to spend more time assessing the effect of past rate rises on lending. At its September meeting the bank raised its key short-term rate by 25 basis points to 1.25%, its highest since April 1995, in a 7-2 vote.
Markets will watch the bank’s quarterly outlook report and Governor Kazuo Ueda’s post-meeting news conference for signals on the pace of further rises. Reuters reported that the bank is likely to slightly revise up next fiscal year’s price forecast and signal that underlying inflation has roughly achieved its 2% target, with some analysts predicting rises in December and March if the bank signals a roughly quarterly pace.
Why Australia diverged
Australia’s ASX 200 rose despite the regional sell-off, supported by domestic earnings and a defensive rotation into banks, industrials and energy, according to Australian market coverage. The index was holding above 8,930 in early trade, building on Thursday’s close of 8,891.8.
What happens next
The Bank of Japan decision and Ueda’s comments are due later on Friday, and will set the tone for Asian trading into next week. United States PCE inflation data due later on Friday will also shape expectations. These are intraday moves: index levels quoted here are from Friday morning trading, not closing levels, and they may change before the close.
FAQ
Why did Asian markets fall on October 30? Caution ahead of the Bank of Japan decision combined with weak United States technology earnings and concern over the reported Binance incident.
Did the Bank of Japan raise rates? At the time of writing the decision was still pending; Reuters reported the bank was expected to hold at 1.25%.
Why did Australia’s market rise? Domestic earnings and a rotation into defensive sectors supported the ASX 200 even as Japan and South Korea fell.
Sources: NDTV Profit, “Asian Markets Today: Nikkei Tumbles 2% Ahead Of Bank Of Japan Rate Decision; Kospi Crashes 4%”, https://www.ndtvprofit.com/markets/asian-markets-today-october-30-nikkei-topix-slip-ahead-of-bank-of-japan-interest-rate-decision-kospi-crashes-asx-200-nifty-sensex-today-12256575 ; Reuters via Superhits 97.9, “Bank of Japan to hold rates, signal further hikes”, https://superhits979.com/2026/10/29/bank-of-japan-to-hold-rates-signal-further-hikes/ ; CoinDesk, “Binance loses $5.7 billion in largest crypto hack to date”, https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/29/potential-multi-billion-binance-hack-hitting-crypto-markets ; Aju Press, Kospi early trading report, https://www.ajupress.com/view/20261030093270771
