Major stocks indexes in Asia were mostly lower on Thursday as U.S. futures pointed to another volatile session for Wall Street after Apple lowered guidance for first quarter and warned of weaker sales in China.
Markets in Japan remained closed for the day. Still, the Japanese yen rose sharply against the U.S. dollar in early Asian trade as investors sought safety in the Japanese currency. The yen last traded at 107.39 after seeing an earlier high of 104.96.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index dropped 65.99 points, or 0.3%, to 25,064.36
Korean markets also struggled, as shares of Apple suppliers Samsung Electronics subsided 3%, and SK Hynix dropped 4.8%
Shares of major Apple suppliers in Taiwan saw declines following the Cupertino-based tech giant’s revenue guidance downgrade. Chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dropped 1.8% while contract manufacturing firms Hon Hai Precision, better known as Foxconn, fell 1.7% and Pegatron declined by 1.2%.
Australian markets determined their own path, however, and gained, with all the sectors seeing gains. The energy subindex rose 3% as shares of oil-related companies saw gains on the back of Wednesday’s strong rally in oil prices. Santos jumped 4%, Oil Search rose 2.6% and Woodside Petroleum advanced 3.4%.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was at $0.6940 U.S., having crossed the $0.70 level overnight — a phenomenon not seen since Feb. 2016.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 lost 4.7 points, or 0.2%, to 2,964.84
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index subtracted 26.01 points, or 0.9%, to 3,012.88
In Korea, the Kospi index handed over 16.3 points, or 0.8%, to 1,993.70.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index stumbled 61.72 points, or 0.7%, to 9,492.42
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 fell 78.9 points, or 0.9%, to 8,732.37
In Australia, the ASX 200 regained 75.65 points, or 1.4%, to 5,633.41
