BANGKOK, Nov 5, (AP): Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index dipped more than 4% on Wednesday and other shares in Asia also were mostly lower after a retreat on Wall Street spurred by selling of Big Tech shares. US futures were mixed and oil prices also fell. The Nikkei fell nearly 5% early in the session but was down 2.8% by mid-afternoon, at 50,090.33.

Shares in energy and tech giant SoftBank Group sank 9.8% on jitters over its investments in artificial intelligence. Computer chip maker Tokyo Electron dropped 4.1%, while stock in Advantest Corp., a maker of semiconductor testing equipment, lost 7.2%. South Korea's Kospi declined 3% to 3,997.71 as Samsung Electronics shed 4.9%. SK Hynix, which had logged major gains thanks to plans to develop artificial intelligence with chip maker Nvidia, lost 2.9%.

Chinese markets were less affected. The Shanghai Composite index recovered from modest earlier losses to edge 0.2% higher, to 3,967.53. Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.3% to 25,888.16. Investors took fright from heavy selling of high tech related shares overnight on Wall Street. The technology sector has been driving gains this year, and huge values for companies including Nvidia and Microsoft give them outsized influence over the broader market’s direction.

"The rally that began in April is finally feeling its age. What we are seeing today wasn’t just a dip; it was a full-scale reality check,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. "This wasn’t the usual intraday shake-out. It felt more like the oxygen suddenly thinning at the top of a mountain that everyone assumed had no summit,” he said.

Palantir Technologies, which had more than doubled so far this year, fell 7.9% despite reporting results that beat analysts’ forecasts. Nvidia also reversed course from a day earlier, falling 4%, while Microsoft fell 0.5%. Other sectors also declined, leading the S&P 500 to fall 1.2% to 6,771.55. The index set its most recent all-time high last week, and is still up more than 15% for the year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% to 47,085.24. The technology heavy Nasdaq fell 2% to 23,348.64. Wall Street remains focused on corporate earnings. Roughly three out of every four companies within the S&P 500 have reported their latest results, and most have been better than analysts expected. Uber slumped 5.1% despite reporting financial results that beat analysts' expectations.