Hong Kong (CNN Business)Asian markets fell sharply Friday, tracking a plunge on Wall Street and a particularly steep sell-off of tech stocks overnight.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (HSI) tumbled as much as 2.1% in morning trade and was last down 1.7%. South Korea’s Kospi (KOSPI) also lost 1.7%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 (N225) and China’s Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) fell 1% and 1.4%, respectively.
Hong Kong's stock market sees its future in Chinese techAs in the United States, where the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (COMP) tumbled nearly 5%, tech stocks were the biggest losers in Asia.
The Hang Seng Tech Index — a new index tracking the 30 largest tech firms listed in Hong Kong — sank more than 3%. Alibaba, JD.com and semiconductor giant SMIC all lost at least 4%. (Tech stocks will soon become even more important for Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index, which adds Alibaba and Xiaomi next week — a reflection of the growing number of Chinese tech firms trading in the city.)Asian markets are “catching a cold” after the “US market sneezing” last night, Jingyi Pan, a market strategist for IG, wrote in a Friday research note.Read MoreUS stocks recorded their worst day since June on Thursday as investors made a dash for the exits following a streak of record-setting days over the past several weeks. Along with the Nasdaq’s losses, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) fell more than 800 points to finish down 2.8%. The S&P 500 (SPX) fell fell 3.5%.
Futures for all three US indexes continued to trend lower in after-hours trading.”Market corrections are to be expected,” said Kerry Craig, global market strategist for JP Morgan Asset Management, in a Friday research note. “A market fueled by central bank largesse, economic surprises and record earnings beats in the last few months was never going to maintain its heady pace forever.”
Source: edition.cnn.com
