Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell today as investor sentiment turned cautious, following an overnight selloff stateside.
Australian shares traded lower, with the benchmark ASX 200 closed down 0.56% — the index retraced some of its earlier losses of more than 1%. The energy and materials sectors declined 2.03% and 1.41%, respectively, while the heavily-weighted financials subindex finished down 0.31%.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan declined 1.41% while the Topix index reversed losses to close up 0.18%.South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.86% while the Kosdaq turned around losses to gain 0.24%. Tech names sold off as shares of Samsung Electronics fell 1.21%, SK Hynix declined 2.82% and LG Electronics lost 1.61%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 1.76% in late-afternoon trade while Taiwan’s Taiex was declined 1.34%.
Chinese mainland shares also declined: The Shanghai composite closed down 1.69% and the Shenzhen component lost 2.56%.
Mellisa Sithole.
