Most Asian markets declined Friday as a sharp overnight fall on Wall Street triggered a renewed bout of risk aversion and hit technology and resource shares across the region.
The performance capped a bad week for most regional benchmarks, which also ended January on a weak note after a solid 2009.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 Index dropped 216.25 points, or 2.1%, to 10,198.04.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index resumed its downward course and lost 234.38 points, or 1.2%, to 20,121.99.
Among major indexes, China's Shanghai Composite lost as much as 8.8% in January, Hang Seng Index ended the month with an 8% decline, Taiwan's Taiex was down 6.7%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 6.2%, South Korea's Kospi was 4.8% lower and Japan's Nikkei fell 3.3%.
Technology shares tumbled in Asia after a forecast cut from Qualcomm, a bigger-than-expected revenue drop from Motorola and apparent disappointment over Apple's iPad dragged on U.S. stocks overnight.
Shares of Nanya Technology Corp. dropped 3% and Inotera Memories fell 2.3% in Taipei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International lost 1.7% in Hong Kong.
In Tokyo, Advantest slumped 10.2% after the chip testing-equipment maker surprised markets by saying it expects to post a loss for the fiscal year ending in March.
Samsung Electronics dropped 3% in a Seoul despite swinging to a profit of 3.05 trillion Korean won ($2.65 billion U.S.) in the fourth quarter from a loss of KRW20 billion a year earlier. The company said it expects earnings to improve in the current quarter on stronger chip prices.
Resources plays around the region also fell amid rising risk aversion. Heavyweight miner BHP Billiton tumbled 3.2%, while Rio Tinto sank 4.8% in Sydney, with Pacific Metals dropping 2.3% in Tokyo and Korea Zinc Co. losing 2% in Seoul.
Zijin Mining shed 0.7% and Aluminum Corp. of China gave up 0.6% in Shanghai. In Hong Kong, they fell 2.2% and 2.9%, respectively.
Shares of SouthGobi Energy made a disappointing debut in Hong Kong, falling more than 11% from its initial public offering price on poor market sentiment. Analysts at KGI said the stock's valuation was unappealing at its IPO price, as compared with the valuation at which Hong Kong-listed peer Yanzhou Coal acquired Felix in Australia.
Also in Hong Kong, Li & Fung surged 10.2% in heavy trading after the company signed a strategic alliance with Wal-Mart, under which the Hong Kong firm will supply goods worth about $2 billion U.S. to the American retail giant in the first year of the deal.
In foreign exchange markets, the euro was at $1.3964 U.S. against the dollar, after falling as low as $1.3905 U.S., compared with $1.3980 U.S. in late New York trade Thursday, and at 125.88 yen from 125.63 yen. The dollar was at 90.13 yen from 89.88 yen.
Elsewhere:
The Shanghai 300 Composite Index dropped 2.42 points to 3,204.16.
Korea’s Kospi Index was 40 points, or 2.4%, lower to 1,602.43
Taiwan’s Taiex index subsided 54.14 points, or 0.7%, to 7,640.44
Singapore’s Straits Times index fell 12.33 points, or 0.5%, to 2,745.35
New Zealand’s NZX Index lost 19.85 points, or 0.6%, to 3,164.65
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 let go of 103.70 points, or 2.2%, to 4,569.60.
