It was a difficult day for the stocks in the Asia Pacific, investors reacted to the information about the economic data than came from China.
Importantly, mainland Chinese stocks led losses among the region’s main markets. The Shanghai Composite fell 4.5% to about 3,210.10. At the same time, the Shenzhen Component dropped 5.372% to end its trading day at 12,996.34.
Also, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 2% to close at 24,970.69.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.76% to close at 22,730.36. In the meantime, the Topix index fell 0.66% to close at 1,579.06. Interestingly, shares of Apple supplier Japan Display jumped 8.33%.
South Korea’s Kospi index declined 0.82% to end its trading day at 2,183.76 due to the Bank of Korea’s decision. On Thursday, the Bank of Korea decided to leave the base rate unchanged at 0.5%
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.69% to end its trading day at 6,010.90.
Shares of China’s biggest chipmaker on Thursday
It was a historical day for SMIC. Its shares jumped nearly 202% on its first day of trade in Shanghai.
Notably, the share sale is an important moment for the company. Moreover, this moment is also important for China’s broader ambition to grow its domestic semiconductor industry. The trade war between the U.S. and China once more highlighted the importance of the semiconductor industry.
Interestingly, China’s biggest chipmaker issued 1,685,620,000 shares at 27.46 yuan per share. The company was able to raise 46.28 billion yuan ($6.62 billion). This result surpassed the initial target. Moreover, the share sale is the biggest in mainland China in a decade. As a reminder, in 2010 the Agricultural Bank of China raised more than $22 billion. However, it was a dual Hong Kong-Shanghai listing.
SMIC is part of China’s so-called service and Technology Innovation Board. China is working to a create Nasdaq-style environment for publicly-listed tech firms.
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