Asian stock markets experienced declines on Thursday, with South Korea’s Kospi taking a notable hit, plunging 6.6%. The downturn in South Korean stocks was largely driven by an unexpected interest rate hike from the Bank of Korea and significant losses in the technology sector. Notably, shares of SK Hynix dropped by 11.2%, while Samsung Electronics saw an 8.2% decrease.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 also faced a downturn, losing 2.9% as chip-related firms including Kioxia, Tokyo Electron, Advantest, and SoftBank Group experienced declines. Taiwan’s Taiex slipped by 0.3% in anticipation of the chipmaker TSMC’s upcoming earnings report. Meanwhile, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.9%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed slightly lower.
Contrary to the broader regional trend, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose by 1.7%. This increase was driven by gains in Alibaba, which benefited from the approval of Apple Intelligence’s AI service in China that utilizes Alibaba’s Qwen model.
In the commodities market, oil prices saw a slight decrease despite ongoing geopolitical tensions. Brent crude dropped 0.4% to settle at $84.55 per barrel, while US crude declined by 0.2% to $79.34 per barrel. Concerns surrounding potential disruptions to shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz continued to exert upward pressure on oil prices.
Meanwhile, stock markets in the United States closed on a positive note overnight, bolstered by favorable inflation data and robust corporate earnings reports.