The Seoul skyline at sunset.
Ed Jones | Afp | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets opened lower Wednesday, tracking losses on Wall Street after Treasury yields rose and major U.S. tech stocks declined.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 opened 0.57% lower, while the Topix lost 0.45%. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.28% while the Kosdaq Index was flat.
Shares of South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics rose over 1% in choppy trading, shrugging off a worse-than-expected profit forecast for the fourth quarter.
The world’s top memory chip maker said its operating profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31 would be around 6.5 trillion won ($4.47 billion), missing LSEG estimates of 7.7 trillion won.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded slightly below the flatline.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures last traded at 19,447, pointing to a flat open as the HSI’s last closed at 19,447.58.
Traders in Asia will continue monitoring developments related to Chinese tech firm Tencent Holdings, whose shares fall almost 8% on Tuesday following its inclusion in the U.S. Department of Defense list of “Chinese military companies.”
Overnight in the U.S., declines across major tech stocks dragged the market lower.
The S&P 500 dipped 1.11% to close at 5,909.03. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 178.20 points, or 0.42%, and ended at 42,528.36. The Nasdaq Composite slid 1.89% to 19,489.68. The major averages traded higher earlier in the day before rolling over. Nvidia shares fell 6.2% after hitting a record.
Tesla slipped 4% after Bank of America downgraded the electric-vehicle maker given its high valuation and risks associated with its strategy. Meta Platforms shed nearly 2%, while Apple and Microsoft each dipped more than 1%.
—CNBC’s Pia Singh and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.
