06:32 AM EDT, 09/26/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets fell back on Friday, as traders adopted a risk-off stance regarding equity valuations, especially in the high-flying tech sector.

Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo finished in the red, while tech-heavy exchanges in Seoul and Taiwan sank.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened lower in response to Wall Street cues and failed to recover, finishing off 0.9% as traders booked profits in a market that had closed at a record high on Thursday.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 399.94 to 45,354.99, although gaining issues outnumbered losers 135 to 88, as losses were concentrated in the tech sector.

Leading the downside, semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker Lasertec declined 8.4%, while Sumco, a maker of silicon wafers for microchips, lost 7.5% on the day. Disco, which manufactures precision tools for chipmaking, fell 7.1%.

In economic news, Japan's consumer price index-core (CPI-core), which strips out food bills, rose 2.5% on the year in August, unchanged from the July gain, and still modestly above the Bank of Japan's 2% annual national inflation target.

In other news, Japan's real wages fell 0.2% in July from a year earlier, reported the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened lower and declined in the afternoon, as investors joined the global exit from tech issues.

The broad gauge Hang Seng fell 356.48 to 26,128.20 as losing issues outnumbered gainers 55 to 30. The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 2.9% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index fell 0.3%.

Smartphone and automaker Xiaomi declined 8.1%, while Semiconductor Manufacturing International lost 5%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.7% to 3,828.11.

On the other regional exchanges, the South Korean KOSPI fell 2.4%; the Taiwan TWSE declined 1.7%; the Australian ASX 200 rose 0.2%; the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.1%, and the Thai Set declined 0.7%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was down 1%.