Asian stock markets experienced a general downturn on Thursday, with South Korea’s Kospi leading the declines, plummeting by 6.6%. This drop was mainly influenced by an unexpected interest rate hike from the Bank of Korea and significant losses in the technology sector. Notably, SK Hynix saw its shares fall by 11.2%, while Samsung Electronics faced an 8.2% decrease.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 also suffered a setback, declining by 2.9%. The market was particularly affected by losses in chip-related companies such as Kioxia, Tokyo Electron, Advantest, and SoftBank Group. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.3% as investors awaited the earnings report from chipmaker TSMC, and China’s Shanghai Composite dipped 0.9%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 saw a minor decline, closing slightly lower.
In contrast to the overall regional trend, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose by 1.7%. This increase was largely driven by gains in Alibaba shares, following the approval of Apple Intelligence’s AI service in China, which utilizes Alibaba’s Qwen model.
Oil prices saw a slight decrease, yet remained high due to ongoing geopolitical tensions. Brent crude fell by 0.4% to $84.55 per barrel, while U.S. crude saw a 0.2% drop to $79.34 per barrel. Concerns over potential disruptions to shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz continued to support elevated oil price levels.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets closed higher in the last session, buoyed by favorable inflation data and robust corporate earnings. This positive performance contrasted with the declines seen across most Asian markets.