Most Asian stocks moved in a flat-to-low range on Wednesday, with technology shares logging steep losses in tandem with their Wall Street peers, while Japanese markets extended a fall from record highs on soft trade data.
Regional markets took weak cues from a negative overnight session on Wall Street, as optimism over a Russia-Ukraine peace deal ran dry and as investors locked-in recent profits in tech shares.
S&P 500 Futures fell 0.2% in Asian trade, with focus remaining on an upcoming address by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole Symposium.
Tech shares slide tracking Wall St; Japan, S.Korea worst hit
Asian tech shares were the worst performers for the day, with bourses in Japan and South Korea among the biggest decliners. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indexes fell 1.5% and 0.6%, respectively, while South Korea’s KOSPI slid 1.8% to a 1-½ month low.
Tech conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) was among the worst performers on the Nikkei, sliding over 8%, while memory chip maker SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) slid 3.8% and was among the top weights on the KOSPI.
Tech shares fell tracking steep overnight declines in their U.S. peers, which were in part hit by profit-taking after a strong run-up through August. Artificial intelligence major Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) lost 3.5% and led losses among Wall Street’s
Tech was also spooked by speculation over the U.S. government taking equity stakes in chipmakers who received funding under the CHIPS Act.
Reuters reported that Washington was considering stakes in chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) and TSMC (TW:2330), after it earlier this week announced plans to take an equity share in beleaguered chipmaker Intel (NASDAQ:INTC).
TSMC’s Taiwan shares tumbled 3.8%.
Uncertainty over U.S. interest rates also pressured tech shares, given that they had logged strong gains on increasing confidence that the Fed will cut rates in September. But recent economic data raised some doubts over this notion.
Japanese trade data underwhelms
Losses in Japanese bourses– which saw them fall further from recent record highs– also came in the wake of much weaker than expected trade data for July.
Japan slipped into an unexpected trade deficit as the country’s exports shrank more than expected in July. This came as local exporters grappled with high U.S. trade tariffs and weakening export demand in China.
While the U.S. did lower its duties on Japanese goods to 15% in August, it remains to be seen whether a trade deal with Washington will help Japanese exports recover.
Chinese stocks upbeat as PBOC leaves interest rates unchanged
China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes rose about 0.4% each, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.3% on losses in tech.
Source :
https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/asia-stocks-hit-by-tech-selloff-nikkei-falls-after-weak-trade-data-4201113
