Japanese and South Korean stocks opened lower, following Wall Street's decline on Friday. The Nikkei 225 index fell 1.0% at the open to 50,352.09 points, while the KOSPI dropped 2.7% to 4,053.74 points.
Market attention is focused on the Bank of Japan's two-day meeting starting this Thursday. Expectations are high that the central bank may raise policy rates due to persistent inflation and policymakers' growing confidence in wage trends. The Nikkei had closed up 1.4% on Friday at 50,836.55 points.
U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday, with tech stocks leading the decline. The Nasdaq fell nearly 400 points, while the Dow and S&P 500 retreated from record highs. Investors continued to exit high-growth tech stocks, with AI-related shares like Nvidia and AMD broadly declining. Federal Reserve officials suggested room for further rate cuts. The Dow lost 245.96 points, or 0.51%, to close at 48,458.05, while the Nasdaq dropped 398.69 points, or 1.69%, to 23,195.17. The S&P 500 declined 73.59 points, or 1.07%, to 6,827.41.