Stocks in Asia Strengthened Their Positions

Stocks in Asia-Pacific were higher on February 4 as investors in the region disregarded heavy losses on Wall Street.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index led gains in the region’s major markets. The Hong Seng index added 3.24% to end its trading day at 24,573.29.

Financial stocks in Hong Kong jumped on February 4, with shares of HSBC soaring 4.99%. Standard Chartered gained 4.83% after the Bank of England on February 3 announced its second straight rate hike.

Markets in Hong Kong  returned to trade on February 4, after being closed for several days due to the Lunar New Year holidays. However, in mainland China, markets remain closed on February 4 for the holidays. 

South Korea’s Kospi added 1.57% to 2,750.26.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.73% to finish its trading day at 27,439.99. The Topix index added 0.55% to close at 1,930.56.

The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gained 0.06% on the day to 7,120.20.

U.S. stocks on February 3

U.S. stocks declined on February 3 as investors’ renewed optimism on big tech names took a turn down after Meta Platforms failed to meet expectations.

On February 3, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.7% to 13,878.82 for its worst day since September 2020. Moreover, the S&P 500 had its worst day in nearly a year, sliding 2.4% to 4,477.44, with tech shares as the biggest drag. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 518.17 points or 1.4% to 35,111.16. 

Shares of Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms fell 26.4%. The social media giant issued weaker-than-expected revenue guidance for the current quarter. It was the biggest drop ever for Meta Platforms.

Other social media names also suffered losses on Thursday. Shares of Snap dropped 23.6% and Twitter fell 5.5%. 

Spotify dropped 16.7% after its latest quarterly figures showed a slowdown in premium subscriber growth.