ASIA MARKET OPEN | Seoul's KOSPI Leads With Chip Gains, Tokyo Rebounds; Hong Kong Slips at Open

According to the Korea Herald, HKET and UDN Money, Asian equities opened mostly higher on Wednesday as chip strength offset lingering Middle East tensions and rising oil prices, though Hong Kong turned lower shortly after the bell. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rebounded after Tuesday's 1.7% slide, trading at 65,682.52, up 0.63% or 413.19 points, as of 01:39 UTC, recovering some of the losses driven by a firmer yen and geopolitical risk. Seoul's KOSPI led the region, opening 0.26% higher and extending gains to 7,019.5, up 0.93% or 65.98 points, as of 9:15 a.m. local time, on strength in chipmakers. Samsung Electronics rose 0.37% and SK hynix gained 1.78%, while Hanwha Aerospace advanced 2.43%. Hanwha Ocean climbed 4.18% after the shipbuilder said it was named preferred bidder for a Royal Thai Navy frigate project worth about $500 million. The KOSPI stood at 7,039.33, up 1.22%, as of 01:39 UTC. Hong Kong stocks opened marginally higher, with the Hang Seng Index up 10 points at 25,328 and the Hang Seng Tech Index near flat at 4,459, as Lenovo rebounded about 2% and HSBC added close to 1%. The market quickly reversed, dropping below 25,200, with Haidilao off more than 4% and later falling about 10% to a low near HK$10. The Hang Seng was at 25,207.50, down 0.43%, as of 01:39 UTC. Taiwan's TAIEX opened up 36.96 points at 47,142.74 and climbed more than 300 points intraday, led by TSMC, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index's 1.3% overnight gain lending support; financials lagged. The index stood at 47,395.63, up 0.62%, as of 01:39 UTC. In mainland China, the four main indexes opened higher, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.09%, the Shenzhen Component up 0.63%, the ChiNext up 1.15% and the STAR Composite up 0.73%. Optical-communication, semiconductor and oil-and-gas shares strengthened, while more than 2,800 stocks declined.