Asian stock markets declined on Monday as technology shares led losses, with Samsung Electronics and Alibaba under pressure following mixed earnings and capital-raising moves.
South Korea’s KOSPI index fell 3.4% as Samsung Electronics dropped 8.7%, erasing gains from a shareholder return plan valued at up to 110 trillion won ($80 billion). The plan disappointed investors, who had anticipated stronger returns. SK Hynix slipped 2.4% after reporting results that lagged market expectations. Kioxia and TDK also retreated in Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.5% and TOPIX edged 0.2% higher.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 2.1% as Alibaba plunged nearly 10% after pricing an HK$80 billion ($10.2 billion) share placement at HK$112.70 per share, an 8.4% discount to its prior close. The proceeds will fund AI-related infrastructure, marking the largest primary follow-on offering by a Hong Kong-listed company. JD.com declined 1.9%. Mainland China’s CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite each fell 1.3% and 0.7%, respectively.
U.S. equity futures showed limited movement, with Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.3% and S&P 500 futures 0.1% lower in Asian trade. Investor focus remains on Nvidia’s earnings report due on Wednesday and Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields held around 4.71%, while the 30-year yield stayed near 5.25%, close to a 19-year high.
Oil prices fell as Brent crude dropped 1.5% to $93.02 a barrel, paring gains from a 6.6% rise the prior week. West Texas Intermediate crude declined 1.6% to $85.64. In Australia, Ampol surged 5% after reporting a 376% surge in first-half underlying net profit to A$857.2 million. India’s Nifty 50 edged 0.1% higher, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.2%.
SoftBank slid 5% after announcing plans for a ¥1 trillion retail bond offering. Siemens Energy and Sandisk were among the most mentioned stocks in ProPicks AI historical data, with gains of 231.5% and 189%, respectively.
