ASIA MARKET CLOSE | Seoul's KOSPI Tumbles 1.8% on Chip Sell-Off as Taiwan and Tokyo Advance

According to the Korea Herald, HKET and UDN Money, Asian equity markets diverged Friday, with Seoul falling hard on a technology sell-off while Taiwan and Tokyo closed higher. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 273.58 points, or 0.41%, to 66,405.56, leaving it up about 0.6% for the week. Tokyo's core consumer price index climbed 1.8% year-on-year in August, above expectations, while Tokyo Electron gained 0.41% to 56,230 yen. Seoul's KOSPI snapped a three-day winning streak, closing down 123.49 points, or 1.79%, at 6,788.88 as investors offloaded chip heavyweights ahead of the Jackson Hole meeting. Samsung Electronics fell 3.38% and SK Hynix dropped 4.43%. Foreign and institutional investors sold a combined 2 trillion won. Daishin Securities analyst Lee Kyoung-min said sentiment was dampened by external uncertainties as many awaited Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's keynote speech. Hong Kong stocks ended little changed on a futures-settlement day, with the Hang Seng Index up 19.05 points, or 0.07%, at 25,584.79, while the Hang Seng Tech Index slipped 0.33%. Tencent rose 1.70%, Bilibili gained 1.62% and Xiaomi added 1.38%, while Alibaba fell 1.39%, JD.com lost 1.52% and Lenovo dropped 2.67%. Gold miners advanced, with Zhaojin-linked Everest Gold up more than 7%, while Montage Technology fell over 5% and Akeso lost more than 5% after posting a first-half loss of 424 million yuan. Taiwan's TAIEX closed up 356.23 points, or 0.77%, at 46,331.45, gaining 1,107 points or 2.4% for the week as passive-component makers led the advance. TSMC rose 0.41% to NT$2,420. The three major institutional investors were net buyers of NT$46.82 billion. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite eased 4.39 points, or 0.11%, to 3,952.18, the Shenzhen Component fell 0.68% and the ChiNext Index dropped 48.95 points, or 1.41%, to 3,424.40. Turnover totaled 2.12 trillion yuan. Farming and precious-metal shares led gains, while semiconductor and pharmaceutical stocks retreated.