Tech stocks in Hong Kong sink market by 2%

Monday saw a decline in stock prices throughout Asia-Pacific, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index leading losses as Chinese semiconductor stocks listed there slumped as a result of new U.S. export regulations. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, the largest chip manufacturer in China, plummeted as low as 5.23 percent during morning trading, while Hua Hong Semiconductor fell as much as 10 percent and Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics Company sank as much as 24.6 percent.

The Hang Seng Tech index fell 3.98 percent, while the larger Hang Seng index fell 2.95 percent to 17,216.66. Meituan, an HSI heavyweight, dropped 6.71 percent. On the first day of trading following the Golden Week holiday, the Shanghai Composite fell 1.66 percent to 2,974.15 while the Shenzhen Component fell 2.38 percent to 10,522.12. The major mainland-listed stocks are tracked by the CSI 300 index, which fell 2.21 percent to 3,720.94.

At 6,667.80, the S&P/ASX 200 was 1.62 percent lower. The largest MSCI index of shares traded in Asia-Pacific outside of Japan fell by 1.88 percent. Monday is a holiday, thus all markets in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Malaysia are closed.

This week’s events include the Bank of Korea’s announcement of its benchmark interest rate, the release of China’s inflation data, and the release of Singapore’s third-quarter GDP estimate. In addition to the United States releasing its September inflation data, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Japan’s Fast Retailing will both report earnings.

Major stock indices in the United States fell more than 2% on Friday as statistics revealed that the unemployment rate fell in September, igniting concerns that the Federal Reserve would continue aggressively raising interest rates.

After Washington announced new export regulations that will restrict Beijing’s ability to purchase and produce high-end semiconductors used in military systems, shares of SMIC, China’s largest chipmaker, dropped. The price of SMIC dropped as much as 5.23 percent before seeing a slight recovery. It last moved down 2.91 percent.

In a press conference on Saturday, the spokesperson for the foreign ministry, Mao Ning, claimed that the U.S. has been “abusing export control measures” to wilfully block and cripple Chinese enterprises. Such conduct violates the standards of both international trade and fair competition.

In the morning session in Asia, the Korean won was one of the currencies that lost ground to the US dollar. The last time the South Korean won was traded, it was trading at 1,427.76 per dollar, having risen below the 1,400 mark the previous week. The Australian dollar rose to $0.6370 while the Japanese yen slightly declined to 145.46 against the US dollar. Around 7.1319 Chinese yuan were traded offshore for one dollar.