Asia report: Markets follow Wall Street lower as tech plays slide

Markets in Asia finished lower on Wednesday, following the lead of Wall Street overnight, which finished its Tuesday session in the red as technology plays fell.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was down 1.34% at 21,031.31, as the yen weakened 0.49% against the dollar to last trade at JPY 105.86.

All but three of the sectors on the broader Topix index were in the red, led lower by mining and coal stocks, with the index itself losing 1.02%.

Technology firms were also big decliners, with Tokyo Electron diving 4.44% by the end of the session.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was off 1.4% at 3,122.22, and the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite finished down 0.95% at 1,812.36.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.34% to 2,419.29, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong slid 2.5% to 30,022.53.

The US tech sell-off had an effect on the Korean peninsula too, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix down 2.56% and 1.35% respectively.

Carmakers and manufacturers went against the negative trend in Seoul, however, with Kia Motors managing to rise 3.94%.

Asia’s losses came after all three Wall Street benchmarks closed lower overnight, with technology stocks dragging the broader market down.

The fall in tech stocks saw the Nasdaq Composite lose 2.93%.

Sentiment was affected by Facebook, which was still losing value amid a huge data scandal after it emerged founder Mark Zuckerberg would not honour a request by MPs to appear before a select committee in Westminster.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch also cut its price target on the stock for the second time in five days, leading to declines for sector peers such as Alphabet, Amazon and Netflix.

But some analysts were broadly unconcerned by technology’s woes, saying their performance on Tuesday was not indicative of broader market sentiment.

Oil prices were lower, with Brent crude last down 0.44% at $69.80 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate off 0.85% at $64.70.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.73% to 5,789.50, with all but two of the benchmark’s subindices finishing in the red.

Consumer discretionary, gold producers and materials were all at least 1% lower, with the hefty financials sector off 0.8%.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 was down 1.4% at 8,388.08, with specialist dairy producer A2 Milk falling 6.5% after multinational dairy giant Nestle confirmed it was launching a similar product into China.

The index was led lower by subscription broadcaster Sky - unrelated to its London-listed namesake - which slid 7.9% after it revealed it was not the preferred bidder for next year’s Rugby World Cup.

Professional rugby is a cash cow for the broadcaster, which holds a near-monopoly on televising the sport in New Zealand, where it is the national game.

Both of the down under dollars were weaker against the greenback, with the Aussie last off 0.17% at AUD 1.3044 and the Kiwi retreating 0.19% to NZD 1.3789.