Stocks in South Korea and Japan Suffered Significant Losses

It was not an easy day for stocks in Asia-Pacific. Stocks in South Korea, as well as Japan, led losses in major markets across the region on Friday as the recent rally in U.S. stocks broke momentum with the Nasdaq Composite breaking a three-day winning streak.

U.S. stocks declined on Thursday. The S&P 500 fell 1.42% to close at 4,659.03. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.51% to 14,806.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 176.70 points to 36,113.62. 

Weakness in Big Tech stocks weighed on the Nasdaq Composite. Amazon dropped 2.4% and Microsoft declined 4.2%. Shares of Snap fell roughly 10%, while Virgin Galactic slipped nearly 19%. The company’s shares declined after it announced a debt offering. 

Strong earnings reports helped to improve the situation to a certain extent. Delta Air Lines surpassed expectations and reaffirmed full-year guidance. As a result, its shares jumped more than 2%. Shares of KB Home gained more than 16% after reporting better-than-expected earnings. 

Let’s get back to stocks in Asia-Pacific. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.28% to end its trading day at 28,124.28. The Topix fell 1.39% to 1,977.66. Tech and auto stocks declined on Friday. Sony dropped nearly 2% and SoftBank fell 1.24%.

South Korea’s Kospi declined 1.36% to close at 2,921.92. In Australia, the ASX 200 fell 1.08% to 7,393.90 with bank stocks falling. 

Mainland Chinese stocks on Friday

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dropped 0.32% in the final hour of trade. Moreover, the Hang Seng Tech index recovered from earlier losses to last decline 0.75%. The index fell as Alibaba declined 2.5% and JD dropped 2.86%.

Mainland Chinese stocks fell on Friday. The Shanghai composite plunged nearly 1% to finish its trading day at 3,521.26. In the meantime, the Shenzhen component traded little changed to close at 14,150.57.