Scotiabank lifts gold price forecast and upgrades Newmont, Barrick
Investing.com-- Asian technology stocks dipped on Wednesday, tracking overnight declines in their U.S. peers as some mixed earnings reports sparked profit-taking after a strong run-up in the sector.
Chipmakers were hurt by weak earnings from Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN), especially as the semiconductor maker provided a disappointing forecast for the fourth quarter and warned of a slowing recovery in the industry.
Major Asian chipmakers TSMC (TW:2330) and SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) fell about 1% and 0.6%, respectively. Elsewhere, Japan’s Renesas Electronics Corp (TYO:6723) and Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) fell 1.9% and 2.4%, respectively.
SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) slid more than 5% from record highs. Bloomberg reported that the tech conglomerate was seeking to raise about $2 billion in its second major overseas bond issuance this year.
Chinese chipmakers retreated, with Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (HK:0981)– the country’s biggest chipmaker by volume– down 0.8%, while peer Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd (HK:1347) lost 4.4%. China AI chip major Cambricon Technologies Corp Ltd (SS:688256) fell slightly.
Broader tech stocks took weak cues from Netflix, which slid 6.3% in aftermarket trade following disappointing third-quarter earnings. Hong Kong-listed tech majors, which tend to track their U.S. peers, were among the worst performers in Asia.
Videogame maker NetEase Inc (HK:9999) slid 5.2%, while Baidu Inc (HK:9888), Alibaba Group (HK:9988), and Tencent Holdings Ltd (HK:0700) fell between 2% and 4%.
Hong Kong tech shares were especially vulnerable to profit-taking after driving a stellar rally in the Hang Seng this year. This was driven chiefly by increasing optimism over progress in Chinese artificial intelligence development.
In other tech sectors, electric vehicle maker BYD (HK:1211) fell 1.8% in Hong Kong trade before closely-watched third-quarter earnings from U.S. rival Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), which are due later on Wednesday.