Asian stocks closed mostly lower on Friday with investors taking their lead from Wall Street, where renewed anxiety over terrorism and disappointing economic data weighed on sentiment.
Seoul was the hardest hit with a 2.98 percent fall which was aided by a stronger won and weakness in Tokyo where the benchmark fell 0.30 percent.
However, Taipei and Kuala Lumpur made solid gains after traders in both markets returned to work following an extended Lunar New Year holiday break and caught up with strong regional rises registered earlier in the week.
Shanghai remained closed for holidays.
Taipei share prices closed 0.96 percent higher as market laggards bounced, leading a rally after a long Lunar New Year holiday during which international markets generally did well.
Dealers said investors ignored overnight losses on Wall Street and President Chen Shui-bian's (
The TAIEX rose 62.42 points to 6,594.60, on turnover of NT$108.50 billion (US$3.39 billion).
"Despite profit-taking ... in bellwether electronics, our shares actually outperformed US equities overnight and regional markets this morning," SinoPac Securities (
Tokyo share prices closed down 0.30 percent on Friday as losses on Wall Street sparked a bout of profit-taking following the market's rise to more than five-year highs.
Dealers said sentiment around the region had been hurt by the US market which was dragged lower amid disappointing economic data, lackluster earnings and renewed anxiety about terrorism.
The NIKKEI-225 index lost 50.91 points to 16,659.64, off a low of 16,567.87.
Ryuta Otsuka, a strategist at Toyo Securities, said the market was torn between the negative lead from Wall Street and recent upbeat results from some of Japan's corporate heavyweights.
Seoul share prices closed 2.98 percent lower in a broad-based correction, falling for a third trading day.
Dealers said that Wall Street's overnight downturn led to a weak start, with sentiment further dampened by weak Asian markets, while the won's strength against the dollar triggered profit-taking. The KOSPI index closed down 40.94 points at 1,333.50.
Hong Kong share prices closed sharply lower, shedding 1.67 percent of their value, following Wall Street's falls overnight and on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates.
Dealers said Hutchison Whampoa, China Mobile and other blue chips succumbed to profit-taking in heavy trading, while oil stocks traded lower on easier crude prices.
The Hang Seng Index closed down 261.96 points at 15,429.73.
Sydney share prices fell 0.43 percent as investor sentiment slipped in the wake of overnight losses on Wall Street and profit-takers targeted resource stocks.
Dealers said falls reflected regional sentiment where markets also traded lower after US stocks were dragged down by disappointing productivity data, lackluster earnings and renewed anxiety about terrorism.
The benchmark SP/ASX 200 index shed 21.3 points to 4,883.8.
Singapore share prices snapped a six-day rise to close 0.40 percent lower, on profit taking and declines in the US and on other Asian markets.
Dealers said a focus on China-linked stocks on expectations that these shares have further room to rise, limited the magnitude of the decline.
The Straits Times Index fell 9.67 points to 2,431.72.
Malaysian share prices closed 1.51 percent higher, in active trade led by blue chips after a four-day holiday.
The composite index rose 13.84 points to 927.85.
Bangkok share prices closed 0.34 percent higher, rebounding slightly as investors adopted a wait-and-see attitude over a weekend protest against the government. The composite index rose 2.55 points to 747.09.
Jakarta share prices closed flat with renewed interest in banking stocks offsetting falls in the broader market triggered by profit-taking.
The composite index closed up 0.733 points or 0.06 percent at 1,244.126, rising for the fifth straight trading day.
Manila share prices closed 0.96 percent lower due to a downturn on Wall Street and a court ruling that barred Manila Electric Co (Meralco) from raising power tariffs.
The composite index fell 20.66 points to 2,138.71.
Mumbai share prices closed down 1.03 percent in line with weakness on other world markets triggered by fears of higher US interest rates.
The 30-share SENSEX fell 101.29 points to 9,742.58 points.
Apple Inc increased iPhone production in India by about 53 percent last year and now makes a quarter of its marquee devices there, reflecting the US company’s efforts to avoid tariffs on China. The company assembled about 55 million iPhones in India last year, up from 36 million a year earlier, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named because the numbers aren’t public. Apple makes about 220 million to 230 million iPhones a year globally, with India’s share of the total increasing rapidly. Apple has accelerated its expansion in the world’s most populous country in recent years, bolstered
HEADWINDS: The company said it expects its computer business, as well as consumer electronics and communications segments to see revenue declines due to seasonality Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it aims to grow its artificial intelligence (AI) server revenue more than 10-fold this year from last year, driven by orders from neocloud solutions clients and large cloud service providers. The electronics manufacturing service provider said AI server revenue growth would be driven primarily by the Nvidia Corp GB300 server platform. Server shipments are expected to increase each quarter this year, with the second half likely to outperform the first half, it said. The AI server market is expected to broaden this year as more inference applications emerge, which would drive demand for system-on-chip, application-specific integrated circuits
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) share of the global foundry market rose to almost 70 percent last year amid booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI), market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Thursday. The contract chipmaker posted US$122.54 billion in revenue, up 36.1 percent from a year earlier, accounting for 69.9 percent of the global market, TrendForce said. Its share was up from 64.4 percent in 2024, it said. TSMC’s closest rival, Samsung Electronics, was a distant second, posting US$12.63 billion in sales, down 3.9 percent from a year earlier, for a 7.2 percent share of the global market. In the
At a massive shipyard in North Vancouver, Canadian workers grind metal beams for a powerful new icebreaker crucial to cementing the country’s presence in the increasingly contested arctic. Icebreakers are specialized, expensive vessels able to navigate in the frozen far north. And “this is the crown jewel,” said Eddie Schehr, vice president of production at the Seaspan shipyard. For Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who heads to Norway next Friday to observe arctic defense drills involving troops from 14 NATO states, Canada’s extreme north has emerged as a strategic priority. “Canada is and forever will be an Arctic nation,” he said ahead of
RSS