Asian stock markets faced a downturn on Thursday, with South Korea’s Kospi leading the declines, plummeting by 6.6%. This sharp drop came as a result of a surprise interest rate hike by the Bank of Korea, compounded by significant losses in the tech sector. Notably, SK Hynix saw its shares fall by 11.2%, while Samsung Electronics experienced an 8.2% decline.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index fell by 2.9%, primarily due to a retreat in chip-related stocks. Companies such as Kioxia, Tokyo Electron, Advantest, and SoftBank Group were among those contributing to the downturn. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Taiex dipped by 0.3% as investors awaited chipmaker TSMC’s earnings report, and China’s Shanghai Composite recorded a 0.9% loss. Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also ended the day with a slight decrease.
Contrary to the regional trend, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose by 1.7%. This gain was largely driven by a surge in Alibaba shares following the approval of Apple Intelligence’s AI service in China, which utilizes Alibaba’s Qwen model.
On the commodities front, oil prices saw a slight decline but remained at elevated levels amid ongoing geopolitical tensions. Brent crude decreased by 0.4% to settle at $84.55 per barrel, and US crude slipped by 0.2% to $79.34 per barrel. Concerns over potential disruptions in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz continued to underpin oil prices.
In contrast, US stock markets closed higher the previous night, buoyed by favorable inflation data and robust corporate earnings.