Asia-Pacific markets fell on Friday, tracking Wall Street declines as investors continued to rotate out of tech stocks and take profits from the rally in equities in recent weeks.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 62.56 points, or 0.2%, to 40,063.79.
Japan’s inflation came in at 2.8% for June unchanged from May, while core inflation, which strips out prices of fresh food, accelerated to 2.6%, from 2.5%.
However, the core inflation reading was lower than the 2.7% expected by a Reuters poll of economists.
The country’s central bank is unlikely to raise interest rates at its policy-setting meeting in July as it seeks to support economic growth, more than 75% of the economists said in a Reuters poll.
Japanese chip-related stocks rebounded from Thursday’s losses, with semiconductor suppliers rising. Tokyo Electron ended the session up 2.30%, while Advantest gained 1.6%.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index retreated 360.73 points, or 2%, to 17,417.68.
Chinese chip stocks listed in Hong Kong bucked the trend, with Hua Hong Semiconductor up 4.46% and SMIC gaining 1.5%.
South Korea’s markets fell Friday, and lost 2.15% this week, marking its steepest weekly decline since April 15.
South Korean chipmaker Samsung Electronics dropped 2.88%, while peer SK Hynix shed 1.41%.
Taiwanese chip stocks continued to decline, with heavyweights Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dropping 3.5%, while Hon Hai Precision Industry — known internationally as Foxconn — lost over 2%.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 gained 18.09 points, or 0.5%, to 3,539.02.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index dropped 23.6 points, or 0.7%, to 3,447.46.
In Korea, the Kospi index subtracted 28.89 points, or 1%, to 2,795.46
In Taiwan, the Taiex index plummeted 529.21 points, or 2.3%, to 22,869.26
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 waned 3.84 points to 12,325.60.
In Australia, the ASX 200 sank 64.93 points, or 0.8%, to 7,971.59.
