Asia-Pacific stocks were lower on Friday, following Wall Street’s sharp declines overnight.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 let go of 260.1 points, or 1.1%, to 23,205.43.
The Japanese yen changed hands at 106.18 per U.S. dollar after it strengthened yesterday from the 106.5 handle against the greenback.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng lost 312.15 points, or 1.3%, to 24,695.45.
Technology stocks in the region followed their counterparts stateside and saw losses in Friday trade.
Shares of Apple suppliers in Asia declined, with Sharp down 0.7%, and Murata Manufacturing in Japan slipping 1.6%. Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company also declined 1.6%. AAC Technologies’ in Hong Kong dropped 2.1%.
The moves came after the Cupertino-based tech giant saw its shares plunge 8% on Thursday, it’s biggest one-day decline since mid-March.
Chinese tech stocks listed in Hong Kong also came under pressure. Tech behemoth Alibaba saw its stock in the city drop 3.6% while Tencent also slipped 3% and Meituan Dianping dipped 0.3%.
Australian stocks slumbered Friday.
On the economic data front, Australia’s retail turnover rose 3.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis in July, according to figures released Friday from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That followed the June quarter gross domestic product figures released earlier this week that showed the country officially entering a recession.
Following the data release, the Australian dollar traded at $0.7282 after seeing an earlier low of $0.7249.
In other markets
The CSI 300 shed 46.88 points, or 1%, to 4,770.22.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index subtracted 22.15 points, or 0.9%, to 2.509.64.
In Korea, the Kospi dropped 27.65 points, or 1.2%, to 2,368.25.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index dumped 120.02 points, or 0.9%, to 12,637.95.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 reared back 230.74 points, or 1.9%, to 11,824.32.
In Australia, the ASX 200 slumped 187.1 points, or 3.1%, to 5,925.51.
