ASIA MARKET CLOSE | KOSPI Plunges 5.28% on AI Regulation Concerns, Hang Seng Gains 3.67%; TAIEX Falls for Sixth Day

According to Kabutan, The Korea Herald and HKET, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closed at 61,077.90, down 1,110.73 points, or 1.79%, for a fourth straight decline, while the broader TOPIX rose 1.16% to 3,940.39. AI and chip-related shares were sold, with Advantest down 14.71% and Tokyo Electron down 9.42%; the two stocks together pulled the Nikkei down by about 1,557 points. SoftBank Group fell 6.77%. Toyota Motor closed nearly 17% higher at 3,533 yen after raising its full-year operating profit forecast by 15% to 3.9 trillion yen and expanding its share buyback to up to 1.3 trillion yen. Seoul's KOSPI closed at 5,383.80, down 300 points, or 5.28%. The index opened 1.82% lower and extended losses, prompting the Korea Exchange to activate a sell-side sidecar at 10:16 a.m. Foreigners sold a net 3.39 trillion won, while institutions and individuals bought a net 841.8 billion won and 2.28 trillion won, respectively. Mirae Asset Securities analyst Kim Seok-hwan said Democratic control of both chambers of Congress raised concerns over tighter regulation of AI data centers and slower AI investment, weighing on semiconductor value-chain stocks. Samsung Electronics fell 7.57% to 201,500 won and SK hynix dropped 9.46% to 1.26 million won, while Hyundai Motor rose 3.53%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index opened 397 points higher and extended gains to close at 24,796.98, up 877.48 points, or 3.67%, as turnover rose to HK$356.67 billion. The Hang Seng Tech Index gained 5.5% to 4,154. Alibaba rose 8.45% to HK$109.10, Xiaomi gained 8.83%, Tencent added 7.17% and Meituan climbed 6.78%. Lenovo fell 6.86%, and CSOP SK Hynix Daily Max (2x) Leveraged Product (07709) dropped 17%. Taiwan's TAIEX closed at 41,574.72, down 1,374.19 points, or 3.20%, for a sixth consecutive decline and its lowest level in more than three months. Turnover was NT$926 billion, with 56 stocks closing limit-down. TSMC fell 0.88% to NT$2,240, MediaTek declined 6.86%, ASE Technology dropped 8.77% and Hon Hai slipped 2.08%, while financial shares rose 0.4%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.10% to 3,689.91, the Shenzhen Component Index rose 1.19% to 11,471.09 and the ChiNext Index gained 0.87% to 2,566.80.