Tech Caution, Persian Gulf Outlook Damp Asian Stock Markets

Asian stock markets fell back on Friday on overnight Wall Street cues, and as Persian Gulf hostilities continued to mount.

Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo finished in the red on soft tech sectors, as did most other regional exchanges. Seoul's semiconductor-heavy KOSPI index declined 5.7%, leading the regional downside.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened lower and lost ground, finishing off 2.7% as traders backed away from AI- and chip-related issues

The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 1,811.45 to 64,611.15, as losing issues outnumbered gainers 132 to 91.

Leading the upside was software-quality tester Shift, up 8.2%, while semiconductor-manufacturing equipment maker Disco declined 12.3%.

In economic news, Japan's flash composite purchasing managers index (PMI), a combination of the nation's manufacturing and service sectors, logged at 53.1 in July, up from 52.8 in June, and striking further above the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction, reported S&P Global.

Japan's consumer price index-core (CPI-core), which strips out fresh foods, rose 1.6% in June year over year, up from a 1.4% on-year gain in May, but still notched below the Bank of Japan's 2% inflation target, according to the Statistics Bureau of Japan.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened lower and could not recover, closing down 1% as tech and property issues lost favor.

The broad gauge Hang Seng fell 247.58 to 24,963.23 as losing issues outnumbered gainers 74 to 16. The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 1.5% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index fell 2.3%.

Leading the upside was Bank of China HK, gaining 6%, while Xinyi Glass declined 5.1%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite fell 1.6% to 3,814.20.

On the other regional exchanges, the Taiwan TWSE declined 2.7%; the Australian ASX 200 declined 0.8%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.1%, and the Thai Set inclined 0.2%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was down 0.4%

The MSCI All Country Asia Pacific Index fell 2.1% on the day.

In other news, India's flash composite purchasing managers index (PMI), logged at 54.3 in July, down from 57.1 in June, reported S&P Global.