Asian stocks mostly fell on Thursday after Wall Street’s stock indexes fell.
In early trading, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.7 percent to 29,490.53. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia rose 0.2 percent to 7,381.40.
The Kospi in South Korea fell 0.6 percent to 2,944.52. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong fell 1.7 percent to 25,227.83. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.5 percent to 3,520.77 points.
The coronavirus pandemic is still harming the Japanese economy. One reason is a shortage of chips and other parts used to manufacture automobiles, a mainstay of the world’s third-largest economy.
Another factor is consumer spending caused by recent government measures to close restaurants early and open theaters to limited patrons. Japan has never had a lockdown. However, it has declared a “state of emergency” on several occasions to combat the spread of infectious diseases.
Chief economist at SMBC Nikko Securities, the Japanese recovery, which many expected to begin this year, may not begin until fiscal 2022, which starts in April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6 percent to 35,931.05, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3 percent to 15,921.57.
Visa’s 4.7 percent drop was one of the market’s heaviest weights. It fell after Amazon announced that it would no longer accept Visa credit cards issued in the United Kingdom due to a fee dispute.
The majority of S&P 500 stocks also fell, while the Russell 2000 index’s smaller stocks fell even more, down 1.2 percent. However, gains in some heavyweight stocks helped to mitigate the losses. Apple gained 1.6 percent, while Tesla gained 3.3 percent. Because they are two of the most valuable stores on Wall Street in market capitalization, their movements significantly impact the S&P 500.
Stocks making the most significant moves
Nvidia: Shares of the chipmaker rose about 3% in extended trading after issuing strong fourth-quarter revenue guidance and beating on both the top and bottom lines of its quarterly results. Nvidia reported earnings per share of $1.17, compared to estimates of $1.11 per share. The company’s revenue was $7.1 billion, which was higher than the expected $6.83 billion.
The Sonos system: Sonos shares rose 4% in after-hours trading after issuing full-year solid revenue guidance. In addition, the music device company reported a loss of cents per share in the most recent quarter. It was in line with expectations.
Cisco Systems: shares of the technology company fell 6% in after-hours trading after issuing earnings guidance for the next quarter at the low end of estimates. Cisco Systems expects revenue growth of 4.5 percent to 6.5 percent in the second quarter. It fell short of Refinitiv’s estimate of 7.4 percent. Earnings in the fiscal first quarter exceeded expectations, but revenue fell short of projections.
