Nikkei falls 3.1% on US midterm result as AI stocks slide; bitcoin dips, then nears $78,000

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 3.1% to 61,127.9 on Wednesday morning as Democratic gains in the US midterm elections hit AI and chip stocks across Asia, Business Recorder reported from Reuters, while bitcoin dropped to about $75,700 and then bounced back near $78,000 once it was clear Democrats had won both houses of Congress, CoinDesk reported. The Karachi market went the other way: the KSE-100 was at 170,550.55 in our noon reading, up from 168,018.86 on Tuesday (live KSE-100).

Tokyo: AI names hit hardest

By 6:50am PKT (0150 GMT) the broader Topix was down 1.85% at 3,857.97, and 130 of the Nikkei's 225 stocks were lower. The heaviest falls were in companies tied to AI infrastructure and data centres, on worries that a Democratic Congress will bring tighter rules and slower spending:

"Democrats are winning seats in some key states," said Takamasa Ikeda, senior portfolio manager at GCI Asset Management. More than $1.48 billion had been wagered on the midterms on prediction markets.

Bitcoin: a V-shaped night

Bitcoin slid below $76,000 early on Wednesday as projections of a Democratic sweep came in, which traders read as a setback for the pro-crypto policies of the Trump administration. It recovered as the result firmed up: Nasdaq futures, down more than 2% at one point, pared the loss to 0.3%, CoinDesk said. Traders bought about $420 million of call options against $105 million sold, out of $660 million in election-day options blocks.

"A clear outcome resolves political uncertainty," said Dick Lo of TDX Strategies. Markus Thielen of 10x Research said bitcoin was oversold "and should rally back towards the 82,000 level". Not everyone is convinced: US spot bitcoin ETFs lost $515 million to outflows in October and about the same again in the first two trading days of November.

Our bitcoin price page had it at $78,029.88 at 12:40pm PKT, and ether at $2,298.71.

What it means for you in Pakistan

• Shares: the PSX is not trading the US result the way Tokyo is. Karachi has been rising on its own story (a record 681,965 investors in October). If you hold shares through a broker, nothing in Wednesday's Asian sell-off changes your position directly.
• Crypto: the overnight swing of about $2,300 is roughly Rs 6.4 lakh on one bitcoin at today's interbank rate of Rs 276.71 to the dollar (dollar rate). If you hold coins on a foreign app, the currency converter turns the dollar value into rupees.
• Gold: 24-karat gold was Rs 417,308 a tola in Wednesday's reading, up from Rs 408,042, as investors moved to safer assets.

For every result from the election itself, see our US midterm results page.