ASIA MARKET OPEN | Seoul's KOSPI Opens Higher on Chip Strength as Hong Kong Slips; Tokyo Eases After GDP Miss

According to the Korea Herald, the Hong Kong Economic Times and Google Finance, Tokyo stocks opened weaker after Japan's second-quarter GDP was revised to an annualized 1.4%, below expectations, even as July real wages rose 2.4%, the biggest gain since 2021, and the yen held near a seven-month high around 154 per dollar on firmer Bank of Japan rate-hike bets. The Nikkei 225 later pared its early decline to trade at 66,517.33, up 0.18% or 117.49 points, as of 01:39 UTC. Advantest added 1.42% and Tokyo Electron rose 0.68%, while Sony fell 2.04%. Seoul's KOSPI opened higher, led by semiconductors after the index climbed more than 4% in the previous session on renewed AI earnings optimism. The benchmark was up 54.51 points, or 0.78%, at 7,049.90 as of 9:15 a.m. local time, with Samsung Electronics up 1.11% and SK hynix gaining 2.97%. Korea Electric Power advanced 3.82% and SK Innovation added 1.6%, while Hyundai Motor eased 0.76% and LG Energy Solution declined 1.24%. The won was quoted at 1,338.55 per dollar. Hong Kong stocks opened lower, with the Hang Seng Index down 161 points at 25,252 and the Hang Seng Tech Index off 0.6% at 4,502 at the open; it stood at 25,259.98, down 0.60%, as of 01:39 UTC. Xiaomi eased about 0.9% following its product launch and Lenovo fell more than 1%, while the leveraged Southbound SK Hynix product XL2 rose more than 7%. Alibaba slipped 0.55%, Meituan fell 0.81% and Xiaomi was down 0.87%. Taiwan's TAIEX opened firmer before turning mixed, trading at 47,331.74, up 0.01% or 5.47 points, as of 01:39 UTC. TSMC rose 0.81% to NT$2,480, while Hon Hai fell 1.95%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite opened higher at 3,945.48, up 0.33% or 12.78 points, with the CSI 300 up 0.17% at 4,582.84 and the ChiNext Index little changed at 3,399.44, all as of 01:41 UTC.