Taiwan stocks down 3% in mixed Asia trade as TSMC plunges 6%

Abigail Ng

Shares in the Asia-Pacific were mixed on Tuesday, while Taiwan’s benchmark index dropped more than 3% on its return to trade as investors weighed the impact of new U.S. rules on chipmaker TSMC.

Japan and South Korea’s markets also resumed trading after a holiday on Monday. The Nikkei 225 fell around 2% and the Topix lost about 1.5%. In South Korea, the Kospi fell 2.16% and the Kosdaq shed 3.5%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.91% and the Hang Seng Tech index dropped 1.11%. The Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component in mainland China were little changed.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 bucked the overall trend and was 0.27% higher. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 1.41%.

“Equities continue to sell off as the impact of tighter monetary policy spooks investors,” ANZ Research analysts wrote in a note Tuesday.

TICKER	COMPANY	NAME	PRICE	CHANGE	%CHANGE
.N225	Nikkei 225 Index	*NIKKEI	26480.97	-635.14	-2.34
.HSI	Hang Seng Index	*HSI	16977.54	-239.12	-1.39
.AXJO	S&P/ASX 200	*ASX 200	6665.5	-2.3	-0.03
.SSEC	Shanghai	*SHANGHAI	2976.86	2.72	0.09
.KS11	KOSPI Index	*KOSPI	2180.22	-52.62	-2.36
.FTFCNBCA	CNBC 100 ASIA IDX	*CNBC 100	6913.41	-149.09	-2.11

Overnight on Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite closed at its lowest since July 2020, down 1.04% at 10,542.10, dragged lower by a slump in semiconductor stocks.

The S&P 500 also slipped 0.75% to 3,612.39, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 93.91 points, or 0.32%, to close at 29,202.88.

— CNBC’s Carmen Reinicke and Alex Harring contributed to this report.

CNBC Pro: China’s tech stocks are tumbling, but short sellers have a different sector in their sights

Chinese tech stocks are down by 20% this year — but short sellers are targeting a different sector.

Some $742 million of new bearish bets were placed on one Chinese sector in particular in the third quarter. That compares to a reduction of around $150 million in shorts on the tech sector.

— Ganesh Rao

TSMC shares plunge 7% on U.S. export limits

Shares of the world’s largest chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, dropped as much as 7.1% on its return to trade after a holiday on Monday. The stock was reacting to news of U.S. export controls on high-end tech that are meant to limit China’s ability to buy and manufacture advanced semiconductors used in military equipment.

TSMC, a heavyweight on the Taiex, dragged the broader market down by around 3% Tuesday morning.

TSMC shares fall 7% Chart

Market intelligence company TrendForce wrote that the U.S. rules will affect non-Chinese firms such as TSMC, Samsung and SK Hynix.

“In the future, whether the situation is American factories no longer being able to export to the Chinese market or Chinese factories being unable to initiate projects and mass produce wafer starts, it will all have a negative impact on the future purchase order status of TSMC’s 7 [nanometer] and 5nm processes,” a press release on TrendForce’s website said.

Samsung Electronics’ shares lost 3.9% and SK Hynix shed 3.5% at session lows.

— Abigail Ng

U.S. Treasury yields climb, 30-year hits highest level since 2013

The yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury note climbed as high at 3.941%, reaching its highest level in nine years.

The 10-year yield rose to 3.963% and the 2-year yield inched higher to 4.318%. Rates fell earlier this month but started to rise again after positive economic data in the U.S. led investors to increase bets on further rate hikes by the Fed.

Bond yields move inversely to prices and one basis point is equivalent to 0.01%.

— Abigail Ng

CNBC Pro: Wall Street is bullish on some corners of tech again, as Citi gives one stock 115% upside

Some Wall Street banks have started making the case for buying into tech again, naming specific sectors they are bullish on.

Citi and Morgan Stanley both said they have upgraded tech to overweight.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about the areas they are looking at and the global stocks to buy.

— Weizhen Tan

Source : CNBC