BUSINESS

South Korea GDP, Wall St sell-off


In a photo taken on November 4, 2019 a subway train crosses a rail bridge over the Han river, before the skyline of the Yeouido business district of Seoul.

Ed Jones | Afp | Getty Images

Asia-Pacific markets saw a sell off on Thursday, tracking losses on Wall Street as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite saw their worst days since 2022.

The broad market index lost 2.31%, closing at 5,427.13, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 3.64% to end at 17,342.41. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 504.22 points, or 1.25%, closing at 39,853.87.

Tech names sold off, including Nvidia and Meta Platforms, which lost 6.8% and 5.6% respectively. Shares of Alphabet — Google’s parent company — fell 5% for their biggest one-day drop since Jan. 31.

Meanwhile, Tesla shares declined 12.3% — their worst day since 2020 — on weaker-than-expected results and a 7% year-over-year drop in auto revenue.

Over in Asia, investors will assess South Korea’s advance second-quarter GDP numbers, which came in slightly below expectations.

South Korea’s GDP grew 2.3% year on year, lower than the 2.5% expected by economists polled by Reuters. On a quarter on quarter basis, the country’s economy shrank 0.2%, compared to a 0.1% rise expected in the Reuters poll and a reversal from the 1.3% growth seen in the first quarter.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 extended its six-day losing streak and plunged 2.64%. The Topix also tumbled 2.24%. The top loser on the index was SoftBank Group, which nosedived 7%.

The yen also marked a fourth-straight day of strengthening against the U.S. dollar, climbing to 153.09 against the greenback.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.8%, while the Kosdaq was down 2.32%. The index was dragged by heavyweight SK Hynix, which also fell 6%.

This comes as the company reported an all-time high quarterly revenue of 16.42 trillion won ($11.85 billion) for its second quarter, marking a gain of 125% from a year ago.

Operating profit came in at 5.47 trillion, its highest in six years. Net profit stood at 4.12 billion. Both metrics reversed from loss positions in the same period last year.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.86% lower.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 17,242, also lower than the HSI’s last close of 17,311.05.

Separately, Taiwan’s market will be closed for a second day, as the island braces for Typhoon Gaemi.

—CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.



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