BANGKOK (AP) – Shares started a mixed week in Asia after U.S. stocks plunged to their worst losses since Election Day.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 1% to 38,255.65 as yen regained strength against the US dollar after the central bank governor, Kazuo Ueda, indicated that the Bank of Japan would continue to raise interest rates as a condition of allowing.
The dollar fell to 154.46 Japanese yen from 154.54 yen late Friday. It was trading above 156 yen last week.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 2% to 2,465.60 after Samsung Electronics, the country’s largest company, announced plans to buy back shares. Samsung shares rose 6%.
The Chinese market advanced, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong adding 1.2% to 19,655.58. The Shanghai Composite index rose 1.2% to 3,372.18. New data shows an improvement in retail spending that economists say shows the government’s stimulus policy is giving a stagnant economy a boost.
Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% higher to 8,295.40. Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.8% and Bangkok’s SET rose 0.6%.
There, US stocks tumbled there with the waning of the “Trump bump” that Wall Street got from last week’s presidential election, along with a cut to interest rates by the Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 fell 1.3% to 5,870.62, for its worst day since before Election Day to cap a losing week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% to 43,444.99, and the Nasdaq composite fell 2.2% to 18,680.12.
Vaccine makers helped drag the market lower after President-elect Donald Trump said he wanted Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent anti-vaccine activist, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Moderna fell 7.3%, and Pfizer fell 4.7% on worries about possible profitability.
Kennedy still needs confirmation from the Senate to get the job, and some analysts are skeptical of his chances.
Biotech stocks generally fell to some of the market’s worst losses, but the sharpest decline in the S&P 500 came from Applied Materials. It fell 9.2% as it forecast some future revenue below analysts’ expectations, despite reporting stronger-than-anticipated profits for its latest quarter.
Companies are facing pressure to deliver massive growth as share prices rise faster than earnings. That makes the stock market look expensive by some measures. The S&P 500 is still up 23% for the year and is not far from the highs set on Monday, despite last week’s weakness.
Stocks have rallied since Election Day, when Trump’s victory jolted financial markets around the world. Investors immediately started sending bank stocks, smaller US companies and cryptocurrencies as they bet on the winners coming out of Trump’s choice for higher tariffs, lower tax rates and lighter regulation.
