South Korea's Kospi jumped 2.24% to close at 5,859.08 on Monday, Nov. 2, recovering much of Friday's slump, while Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.33% to 63,081.86 as memory maker Kioxia Holdings plunged almost 16% after a disappointing quarterly outlook. India's Sensex rose 1.66% to 75,692.78 for a third straight gain.

The split session showed how unevenly Asia is absorbing the AI selloff that hit Wall Street on Friday. Korea and India, which lean on domestic institutions and cheaper oil, bounced. Tokyo, Taipei and Sydney, which track U.S. technology and global risk appetite more closely, lost ground.

Kospi rebounds on institutional buying, Nikkei hit by Kioxia

Seoul opened 1.62% lower before institutional investors stepped in, The Korea Times reported. Institutions were net buyers of more than 1.2 trillion won of shares, while individuals and foreigners were net sellers, according to The Korea Times and Aju Press, whose preliminary tallies differ. The tech-heavy Kosdaq rose 1.38% to 734.36.

Chipmakers led. SK Hynix gained 3.81% to 1,472,000 won and Samsung Electronics rose 1.78% to 229,000 won. SK Square, the SK Group holding company that owns a large stake in SK Hynix, climbed 5.91% after announcing plans to return at least 4.3 trillion won to shareholders. The won weakened 9.5 won to close at 1,343.8 per dollar.

The rebound followed a hard week for Korean shares, including the session in which Samsung dragged the Kospi down 3% on doubts about Big Tech's AI spending.

In Tokyo, Kioxia fell 15.78% to 11,345 yen, the biggest drag on the Nikkei, after the flash memory maker's outlook for the October-December quarter disappointed investors, Reuters reported. Tokyo Electron cushioned the index, rising 5.16% to 10,005 yen after the chip equipment maker forecast a roughly 50% rise in full-year net profit, beating analysts' expectations. The broader Topix fell 0.88%. Tokyo markets are closed on Tuesday for the Culture Day holiday.

Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.65% to 44,920.14, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing down 1.69% to NT$2,330, Taiwan News reported. The index had fallen as much as 812.73 points during the session.

The trigger for the caution was Friday's U.S. session. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.9%, its largest one-day percentage drop since June 5, and the S&P 500 dropped 1.8% after disappointing results from Intel and Amazon deepened worries about how soon heavy AI spending will pay off. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index lost 7.2% that day, The Korea Times reported.

Shanghai and Hang Seng rise on support talk

Mainland Chinese shares rose despite weak factory data. The Shanghai Composite gained 1.08% to 3,638.03, back above the 3,600 level it broke on Friday, according to Yahoo Finance and The Standard. The People's Bank of China said on Monday it would step up the use of monetary policy tools to support the capital market, including a third operation of its swap facility for securities, fund and insurance companies on Tuesday, Xinhua reported. Official data showed factory activity slipped back into contraction in October, the AP said.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.42%, or 98.90 points, to 23,393.32, Yahoo Finance data show, led by technology shares, The Standard reported. The Hang Seng Tech Index jumped 2.25%. The index lost 5.4% in October, when the Hang Seng and CSI 300 suffered steep losses during the global tech selloff.

Sensex and Nifty gain as oil falls, ASX slips

Indian stocks were the region's other strong performer. The Nifty 50 rose 1.68% to 23,440, according to Kotak Neo's closing report, with Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Coal India and Shriram Finance among the top gainers. The Nifty Oil and Gas index surged 5.95%. Infosys, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the decliners, and some profit taking emerged late in the session.

Cheaper crude helped. Brent fell 3.3% to $109.66 a barrel in Asian trading, the AP reported, as Iranian negotiators in Qatar discussed a proposal that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz. India imports most of its oil, so a lower price eases pressure on its trade balance and inflation.

In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.58% to 8,856.5, according to Australian Associated Press, as investors braced for a possible rate increase from the Reserve Bank of Australia.

That decision is due at 2:30 p.m. Sydney time on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Korea's foreign selling, which continued on Monday even as the Kospi rose, is the next figure to watch for signs that overseas funds are returning to Asian chip stocks.