Hong Kong, Oct 13 (AP) South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index dropped more than 7 per cent on Tuesday on a sell-off of chip shares, and Asian shares mostly declined after US stocks ended mixed.
US futures were also mixed, and oil prices fell as escalating tensions in the Middle East continued.
The Kospi index was down 7.4 per cent to 5,914.35, its lowest level since late July. It reached an all-time high in June after crossing 9,000, supercharged by the global artificial intelligence boom.
Samsung Electronics fell 7.7 per cent, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix plunged 8.8 per cent.
Investors’ unease over the AI boom has clouded prospects. Both companies’ stocks fell following reports that the latest advances made by China’s memory chipmaker CXMT could increasingly challenge Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron Technology, the world’s biggest memory chipmakers.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 2.5 per cent to 67,292.39. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron fell 6.6 per cent. SoftBank Group, an OpenAI investor, lost 8 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1 per cent to 24,033.51. The Shanghai Composite index was 1.1 per cent lower at 3,754.82.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged down 0.2 per cent to 8,767.40.
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1.9 per cent, with its leading chipmaker TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, down 1.6 per cent.
On Monday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 edged down 0.1 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4 per cent, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite declined 0.4 per cent.
Chip-related shares traded lower. Nvidia was down 1.3 per cent. Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, was 2.3 per cent lower. Micron Technology lost 3.9 per cent. Broadcom fell 1.9 per cent.
Investors are also watching this week’s earnings announcements by major firms including big banks, with Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo reporting results.
Oil prices dropped more than 1 per cent. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.4 per cent to USD 105.20 a barrel. That’s still higher than the roughly USD 72 per barrel in late February, before the Iran war.
Benchmark US crude was down 1.5 per cent to USD 92.34 a barrel.
“The market is more concerned over recent developments in the Middle East, with Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the lingering risks to oil flows from the Persian Gulf,” wrote ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey in a commentary Tuesday.
The US dollar fell to 158.26 Japanese yen from 158.61 yen. The euro was trading at USD 1.1175, up from USD 1.1155.
(PTI News)
