Investing.com-- Most Asian stocks fell on Monday, tracking steep declines on Wall Street amid persistent concerns over a cooling U.S. economy and increased trade tariffs under President Donald Trump.

A tech-fueled rally in Hong Kong paused, with investors turning averse towards the broader tech sector before hotly anticipated earnings from market darling NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) this week. 

Weakness in Asian markets came largely tracking steep losses on Wall Street on Friday, where a mix of soft economic data and persistent tariff tensions battered markets. Wall Street futures advanced in Asian trade on Monday, signaling some signs of a recovery. 

Asia tech skittish with Nvidia in focus 

Tech-heavy Asian bourses led declines on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index losing 1.2%, while South Korea’s KOSPI shed 0.6%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was flat on some gains in locally listed Chinese stocks. But tech shares- which drove a stellar rally in the Hang Seng over the past month- mostly retreated. 

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (HK:9988) (NYSE:BABA) was an exception, curbing a bulk of its initial losses after the ecommerce giant said it will invest about 380 million yuan ($52 billion) in AI over the next three years. 

Regional tech shares largely tracked Friday declines in their U.S. peers, as investors dumped AI-linked shares ahead of key earnings from Nvidia this week. Nvidia had fallen more than 4%. 

The company’s earnings- which are due on Wednesday- will be closely watched to see whether the AI trade remained feasible, especially after the release of China’s DeepSeek in January sparked doubts over AI investment.