ASIA MIDDAY MOVES | Seoul's KOSPI Jumps 2.3% on Chip Rally as Hong Kong Tech Slips; Tokyo Firm, Taiwan Eases

According to Reuters, Yonhap and HKET, Asian equities were mixed at midday Tuesday, with Seoul outpacing the region on strength in memory-chip names while Hong Kong technology shares lagged. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 held modest gains, trading at 66,526.13, up 126.29 points or 0.19% as of 04:32 UTC. Chip-equipment maker Advantest added 2.90% and Tokyo Electron was little changed at -0.13%, while Sony fell 2.54%. Japan reported July real wages rose 2.4%, the biggest gain since 2021. Seoul's KOSPI led regional gains, trading at 7,159.09, up 163.70 points or 2.34% as of 04:32 UTC, driven by memory names. SK Hynix rose 5.83% to 1,887,000 won and Samsung Electronics gained 3.33% to 279,000 won. South Korea's exports have already surpassed a full-year record, reaching $709.4 billion year-to-date. Hong Kong stocks eased at the lunch break, with the Hang Seng down 67 points at 25,345.57 (-0.27%) on turnover of HK$104.98 billion, and the Hang Seng Tech Index off 1.10%. Lenovo fell more than 5%, Xiaomi lost over 2%, and AI plays Zhipu and MINIMAX dropped about 8% and 6% respectively. Oil majors advanced 2%-3% and mainland developers firmed, with Longfor up about 4%; the CSOP SK Hynix Daily Max (2x) Leveraged Product climbed more than 12%. Data-storage firm Longsys made a tepid Hong Kong debut, slipping 0.68% below its issue price. Taiwan's TAIEX slipped to 47,224.46, down 101.81 points or 0.22% as of 04:32 UTC, with heavyweight TSMC up 0.61% at NT$2,475. Panel maker AU Optronics rose more than 5% at one point on heavy turnover, though analyst Wang Chao-li said the move was theme-driven, tied to a one-off gain from an asset sale rather than a fundamental shift. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite edged up 14.29 points or 0.36% to 3,946.99 at the midday break, with agriculture shares leading. China's August exports surged on high-tech and AI demand, Reuters reported.