ASIA MARKET CLOSE | Nikkei Slides 1.9% and Seoul Falls 1.8% as Oil Surge, Fed Hike Bets Hit Asia; Hong Kong Edges Down

According to Yonhap, HKET and RTHK, Asian equities broadly retreated on Friday as a jump in oil prices and rising bets on a U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike overshadowed chip optimism ahead of key U.S. inflation data. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 dropped 1,259.61 points, or 1.93%, to close at 64,011.34, a one-month low, after falling as much as 3% intraday to 63,208. The index lost 1.55% over the week, its second straight weekly decline. Chip-related names weighed, with Advantest down 6.49% and Tokyo Electron off 2.56%. Seoul's KOSPI closed 124.01 points, or 1.76%, lower at 6,909.91 after opening down 3.29%. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 3.53% to 259,500 won and SK hynix declined 2.21% to 1.81 million won, while SK Innovation shed 5.42%. Shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries bucked the trend, jumping 5.62%. The KOSPI still gained 3.3% on the week. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index eased 148.84 points, or 0.60%, to 24,805.63, with turnover at HK$228.43 billion; the Hang Seng Tech Index slipped 0.2% to 4,320. Tencent rose 0.66% to HK$428.40 and Alibaba added 0.56% to HK$107.50, while Zijin Mining fell more than 6% and MiniMax dropped over 7%. Sun Hung Kai Properties fell about 8% after results. Taiwan's TAIEX closed down 755.64 points, or 1.61%, at 46,184.85, briefly sinking below 46,000 intraday, with the weekly loss near 0.8%. TSMC ended 1.63% lower at NT$2,410 and MediaTek fell 2.86%; foreign investors and other institutions sold a net NT$112.4 billion. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite fell 1.18% to 3,888.11 and the Shenzhen Component lost 1.08%, while the CSI 300 declined 0.84% to 4,510.16; combined turnover reached 1.97 trillion yuan with more than 4,800 stocks lower. AI-chip maker Enflame surged on its Shanghai debut, at one point up about 190%.