ASIA MARKET CLOSE | Hong Kong Tech Slides as Zhipu Sinks Over 10%; Tokyo Edges Up, Seoul and Taiwan Ease

According to RTHK, Sina Finance and Yicai, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 recovered from an early dip to close 128.17 points higher at 65,270.95, up 0.20%, as the index turned positive in the final stretch of trade. Seoul's KOSPI ended slightly lower, slipping 17.72 points, or 0.25%, to 7,033.92 after failing to hold above the prior session's levels. Hong Kong stocks retreated broadly, with the Hang Seng Index down 320.49 points, or 1.27%, at 24,954.47 and the Hang Seng Tech Index off 2.04%, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 1.13%. Technology and internet names led the decline: Meituan dropped 3.92% to HK$74.75 and Baidu fell 3.31% to HK$89.15, while Tencent lost 1.94%, Alibaba 2.64% and Xiaomi 1.74%. Application-software developer Zhipu tumbled 10.34% to HK$819.00 after DeepSeek cut pricing on its DS V4 Flash model. Mainland banks bucked the trend, with Minsheng Bank rising more than 3%, while pork producer Muyuan Foods fell over 3%. Taiwan's TAIEX closed down 242.87 points, or 0.51%, at 46,940.49, with turnover shrinking to NT$714 billion. TSMC eased 0.61% to NT$2,450, giving back gains even after Investing.com reported the chipmaker's August revenue jumped 53% on sustained AI demand. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.43%, the Shenzhen Component dropped 0.77% and the ChiNext Index lost 0.49%, while the CSI 300 declined 0.53% to 4,548.39. Banks advanced against the tide, with Ningbo Bank, Bank of Nanjing and Bank of Qingdao each up more than 2%. Turnover across the two mainland exchanges shrank to 1.65 trillion yuan, down 208.5 billion yuan from the previous session, with nearly 4,500 stocks declining.