Asian Markets Follows Wall Street Losses, Tech Firms Hit
Asian Markets were mostly lower Friday following losses on Wall Street losses, with technology firms tracking Apple’s sharp decline.
All three main Wall Street indexes dropped Thursday after mixed business reports with Procter & Gamble reporting weak results. US Treasury yields also made investors worried about higher interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 83.18 points lower at 24,664.86, with Apple as the worst performer on the index. The S&P 500 slid 0.6% to 2,693.13 with technology falling 1.1% and consumer staples dropping 3.1%. The Nasdaq composite shed 0.8% to 7,238.06.
However, the prime news was a 2.8% fall in Apple. It came after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) forecast sales for the present quarter would reach about $1 billion.
Additionally, TSMC said Thursday it expects second-quarter revenue to range between $7.8 billion and $7.9 billion. The forecast was well below Wall Street consensus estimate of $8.8 billion.
The announcement weighed the entire tech sector. Shares of Nvidia, Micron, and Advance Micro Devices all fell at least 1.4%. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF lost 4.5% in its worst day since December 1, 2016.
“The big story for the APAC region today will be fallout from TSMC’s miss, which will weigh heavily on the tech sector, with first order impacts on the Semis and Samsung Electronics/Galaxy supply chain,” analysts at JPMorgan said.
“The miss appears largely to have been due to Apple iPhones, and so may also weigh on the Apple supply chain.”
Asian Markets Lower on Friday
Asian markets opened mostly lower with tech shares under pressure after TSMC plunged as much as 7%. Other chipmakers were hit as well, with Samsung Electronics down as much as 2.2%.
Furthermore, Taiwan’s main index slid 1.4% with techs dropping 3.5%.
The Nikkei 225 fell 0.13% to 22,162.24 as semiconductors companies traded lower. But financials and utilities mostly gained.
Similarly, the country’s core consumer price index rose 0.9% year-on-year in March. It was below from the 1.0% gain in February but matched economist’s median estimate, according to a data on Friday.
However, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd shares lost 2% on Friday. This was after London-listed Shire PLC rejected its $63 billion cash-and-stock acquisition offer.
Tokyo Electron also plunged 2.85% and Advantest fell 3.02%.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index closed down 0.39% to 2,476.33. And Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.21% to 5,868.80.
Asian markets in China also declined, with Hong Kong losing 1.00% to 30,400.89. Mainland markets experienced steeper falls, with the Shanghai Composite plunging 1.47% to 3,071.47.
