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Asia markets mostly fall after Wall Street extends declines; South Korea avoids technical recession

Commercial and residential buildings are illuminated at dawn in Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. South Korea has prepared a financial support program of 75.9 trillion won ($56.97 billion) for companies increasing investment in key sectors as well as small businesses struggling with the impact of high interest rates.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell Thursday after U.S. stocks dropped overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its worst day in more than a month.

In Asia, South Korea narrowly avoided a technical recession with its third-quarter GDP growing 0.1% quarter on quarter, following a 0.2% contraction in the second quarter. It, however, missed Reuters estimates of 0.5% growth.

On a year-on-year basis, South Korea's economy grew 1.5%, also slower than the 2% increase expected by economists.

South Korea's benchmark Kospi fell 0.72% to end at 2,581.03, while the small-cap Kosdaq dropped 1.42% to 734.59, its lowest level since Sep. 13.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was the notable outlier, reversing losses to gain 0.1% and close at 38,143.29, but the Topix lost 0.05% and ended at 2,635.57.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.12% to 8,206.3.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was 1.35% down in it's final hour of trading, while mainland China's CSI 300 saw a larger loss of 1.12% and closed at 3,928.83, snapping a four day winning streak.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes fell, with both the Dow and S&P 500 notching their third straight losing session, weighed down by higher Treasury yields.

The S&P 500 lost 0.92%, and the 30-stock Dow plunged 0.96%. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.6%.

— CNBC's Pia Singh and Brian Evans contributed to this report.

Horizon Robotics shares jump as much as 37% on trading debut

Shares of Beijing-based autonomous driving firm Horizon Robotics jumped as much as 37.8% as it made its trading debut in Hong Kong on Thursday.

This comes after the firm raised 5.4 billion Hong Kong dollars ($696 million) in its initial public offering, making it Hong Kong's largest IPO in 2024.

However, the share price later pared gains to trade at HK$4.24 as of its final hour of trade, a 6.26% gain compared to its IPO price of HK$3.99.

— Lim Hui Jie

Nvidia supplier SK Hynix posts record quarterly profit for third quarter

South Korea's SK Hynix, one of the world's largest memory chipmakers, on Thursday posted record quarterly profit, boosted by strong demand for its high bandwidth memory (HBM) used in generative AI.

Here are SK Hynix's third-quarter results compared with LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate:

  • Revenue: 17.57 trillion won ($12.7 billion) vs. 18.11 trillion won
  • Operating profit: 7.03 trillion won ($5.08 billion) vs. 6.8 trillion won

The South Korean chip giant is a key supplier to Nvidia and has benefitted from a boom in artificial intelligence servers.

Find out more in the story here.

— Dylan Butts

CNBC Pro: Bernstein names its top European stock picks — and gives 4 more than 50% upside

Bernstein has identified a handful of European companies as top stock picks, with four showing potential gains of more than 50 percent.

The stocks named span diverse sectors, from recreational vehicle manufacturing to semiconductor production, reflecting Bernstein's confidence in various European market segments.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

South Korea avoids technical recession as third-quarter GDP expands 0.1%

South Korea GDP expanded 0.1% in the third quarter from the previous one, narrowly avoiding a technical recession.

The third-quarter GDP reading, however, missed Reuters estimates of 0.5% growth.

On a year-on-year basis, South Korea's economy grew 1.5%, also slower than the 2% growth expected by economists.

— Lim Hui Jie

CNBC Pro: Want to cash in on the boom in robots? Bernstein names 3 stocks to play the trend

Robots - or automated devices that can execute tasks without human intervention - are witnessing a "new inflection point" and several global stocks are leading in a corner of the ecosystem, according to Bernstein.

These stocks are captured under the arc welding segment or "one of the largest robotic applications," the investment banks' analysts noted. Such robots account for around 10 - 20% of annual robot shipments, they added, naming three overweight-rated stocks they like.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

Yen hits weakest level in nearly three months against U.S. dollar

The Japanese yen hit its weakest level against the U.S. dollar in about three months, reaching 153.18 late Thursday.

This was its weakest since July 31 subsequent to which it started strengthening against the greenback amid U.S. recessionary fears.

— Lim Hui Jie

Wells Fargo sees near-term challenges for stocks before 2025 rally

The stock market may have already banked its gains for 2024, but that does not mean investors should shift away from equities, according to Wells Fargo.

Darrell Cronk, president of the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said in a note to clients that stocks do not have much near-term upside but could rally again next year.

"Our expectation is that equity markets may struggle to advance meaningfully past recent highs in the near term as economic, political, and geopolitical uncertainties persist," the note said.

"We would view periods of near-term weakness in equity markets as potential opportunities given our 2025 outlook, which forecasts a broad-based recovery that supports improved revenue growth and expanding margins," Cronk continued.

Wells Fargo has a target range of 5,300 to 5,500 for the S&P 500 for the end of this year, which is below where the index closed Tuesday.

— Jesse Pound

Oil prices close lower as U.S. stockpiles rise

Oil storage containers in Midland, Texas, US, on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. 
Anthony Prieto | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Oil storage containers in Midland, Texas, US, on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. 

Crude oil futures snapped a two-day winning streak to close more than 1% lower on a large build in U.S. stockpiles.

U.S. crude oil fell 97 cents, or 1.35%, to close at $70.77 per barrel, while global benchmark Brent shed $1.08, or 1.42%, to $74.96 per barrel.

Crude stockpiles in the U.S. rose by 5.5 million barrels last week, while gasoline inventories increased by 900,000 barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration.

"With prices already moving lower today, this report does little to encourage buying interest," said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst in the Americas for Kpler.

Spencer Kimball

Fed 'Beige Book' indicates 'limited' layoffs, more optimistic outlook

Economic activity over the past seven weeks has been "little changed" as consumers grew more price sensitive and the manufacturing sector retreated, according to the Federal Reserve's periodic economic summary released Wednesday.

The Fed's "Beige Book" report also noted that the dockworkers' strike caused little economic damage, while the violent storm season "heavily affected" the Southeast.

On employment, the document said most of its 12 regions "reported low worker turnover, and layoffs reportedly remained limited."

"Despite elevated uncertainty, contacts were somewhat more optimistic about the longer-term outlook," the report added.

— Jeff Cox

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