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.”
Separately, Samsung is slated to release its earnings guidance for the fourth quarter of 2024 later in the day.
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.
