Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Wednesday, breaking ranks with Wall Street after a selloff in U.S. technology stocks weighed on sentiment, while gold extended gains for a second day.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 moved downward 427.3 points, or 0.8%, from Tuesday’s record high to 54,293.36.
Nintendo shares dropped more than 10%, despite maintaining its full-year sales forecast for the Switch 2 console, as investors assessed several potential headwinds for the gaming giant, including the risk of an unprecedented surge in memory prices — a key component of its consoles.
Japanese software firms in Asia led the region’s declines. TIS, a major Japanese information technology services provider and systems integrator, plunged by more than 15%. Trend Micro and NS Solutions each lost over 7%.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index eked 12.55 points, or 0.1%, to 26,843.32.
In other markets
The CSI 300 in Shanghai gained 38.58 points, or 0.8%, to 4,698.68.
In Korea, the Kospi index jumped 83.02 points, or 1.6%, to 5,371.10.
In Taiwan, the Taiex hiked 94.45 points, or 0.3%, to 32,289.81
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index strengthened 21.41 points, or 0.4%. to 4,965.50.
In Australia, the ASX progressed 70.78 points, or 0.8%, to 8,927.83.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 jumped 45.77 points, or 0.3%, to 13,467.28.
