Japan's Nikkei falls as Samsung-led chip selloff weighs on regional tech stocks

TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average fell on Tuesday as semiconductor-related heavyweights declined after a drop in South Korea’s Samsung Electronics weighed on regional technology stocks.

The Nikkei was down 1.35% at 68,798.93, as of 0133 GMT.

The broader Topix index slipped 0.21% to 4,093.39 after hitting a record high of 4,137.62 earlier in the session, as investors bought financial and other beaten-down value stocks.

“The market looked into the shares of Samsung Electronics, which fell even as the memory chipmaker’s forecast beat the market forecast,” said Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities.

Shares of Japan’s high-flying memory maker Kioxia fell 10.86% and chip-related Advantest and Tokyo Electron lost 0.64% and 1.85%, respectively.

“This is a healthy correction of the distorted market.

The market is selling chip-related stocks and buying value shares which became cheap,“ Shimada said.

The tech-heavy Nikkei tends to track moves in South Korea’s benchmark index, which is also heavily weighted toward chip stocks.

Samsung Electronics fell more than 5%, weighing on regional technology shares, after the world’s largest memory chipmaker on Tuesday forecast a 19-fold jump in second-quarter operating profit from a year earlier.

This disappointed investors who had expected a stronger earnings outlook.

South Korea’s stock benchmark KOSPI slumped more than 5% in early trade. Japan’s banking shares rose, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group up 3%.

Shares of Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group advanced 2% and 1.26%, respectively. Toyota Motor rose 1.45%.

Topix’s value share index climbed 0.14%, against a 0.36% fall of the growth share index.

Of the more than 1,500 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s prime market, 66% rose, 31% slipped and 2% traded flat.