Asian stocks today: Markets slip on Wall Street tech slump; oil cools after 2.1% overnight surge

Market Overview - Silver experienced a significant decline, plunging 8.7%, marking its steepest one-day fall since August 2020, after reaching a peak of $83.62 [2][4] - Despite the drop, silver remains up approximately 150% year-to-date [2][4] - Gold also faced a decline of 4.4% overnight but later recovered slightly, rising 0.6% to $4,356 an ounce [2][4] Stock Market Performance - The MSCI index for Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.1%, yet is on track for a strong annual gain of 26.7%, the best performance since 2017 [2][4] - Japan's Nikkei index fell 0.2% but is still up around 26% for the year [2][4] - Taiwanese stocks declined by 0.7%, and China's blue-chip index dropped 0.3% amid geopolitical tensions [2][4] U.S. Market Dynamics - Wall Street closed lower, with the S&P 500 slipping 0.3% and the Nasdaq 100 falling 0.5%, primarily due to declines in major technology stocks like Tesla, Nvidia, and Meta Platforms [3][4] - Oil prices eased slightly, with Brent crude futures down 0.5% to $61.63 a barrel, following a previous rise of over 2% [3][4] Cryptocurrency Market - Bitcoin has stabilized just below $90,000 after a significant drop from its peak above $126,000 in October [3][4]