Asian stock markets experienced a downturn on Thursday, notably marked by a significant 6.6% drop in South Korea’s Kospi index. This decline was largely driven by a surprise interest rate hike from the Bank of Korea and substantial losses in technology stocks. Among the hardest hit were major tech companies such as SK Hynix, which saw an 11.2% fall, and Samsung Electronics, which declined by 8.2%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index fell by 2.9%, largely due to slumping performances from chip-related companies including Kioxia, Tokyo Electron, Advantest, and SoftBank Group. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Taiex index decreased by 0.3% as investors awaited TSMC’s earnings report, and China’s Shanghai Composite saw a 0.9% dip. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also experienced a slight decline.
Despite the overall regional downward trend, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index managed to rise by 1.7%. This increase was supported by gains 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 decrease but remained high amidst ongoing geopolitical tensions. Brent crude oil fell by 0.4% to $84.55 per barrel, while U.S. crude oil dropped by 0.2% to $79.34 per barrel. Concerns over potential disruptions in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz continued to keep oil prices elevated.
In contrast to the Asian markets, U.S. stock markets ended the previous day on a positive note. This uptick was supported by favorable inflation data and robust corporate earnings, providing a boost to investor sentiment.