Asian markets mostly rise, though U.S. sanctions weigh on chip makers

Asian markets mostly gained in early trading Monday, amid fallout of U.S. restrictions against Chinese tech companies.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK, 0.63% rose 0.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index HSI, +0.73% advanced 0.8%. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.22% slipped 0.2%, while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite 399106, -0.64% fell 0.6%. South Korea’s Kospi 180721, 1.40% gained 1.3%, while benchmark indexes in Taiwan Y9999, 1.62%, Singapore STI, 0.48% and Indonesia JAKIDX, -0.44% were mixed. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -0.02% inched up 0.2%.

Hong Kong-traded shares of Chinese chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. 981, -5.81% plunged after weekend reports that the U.S. government has imposed sanctions against it, over concerns that exports to the company were being diverted to military uses, according to the Financial Times.

In Japan, chip maker Kioxia Holdings Corp. postponed its massive IPO, after saying last week that U.S. export restrictions against China’s Huawei Technologies were hurting its business.

And in the U.S. on Sunday, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s ban against the popular Chinese-owned TikTok app from U.S. app stores. The U.S. has claimed the app poses a national security risk, and a deal to partner with Oracle ORCL, +0.84% and Walmart WMT, +0.41% to assuage those concerns is in the works.

Stocks on Wall Street rose Friday, but for the week, the Dow DJIA, +1.33% was down 1.8%, and the S&P 500 SPX, +1.59% lost 0.6%. It was the fourth straight weekly decline for the two indexes, matching the longest losing streak since August 2019. The Nasdaq COMP, +2.26% gained 1.1% for the week, ending a three-week stretch of declines.

“This week is all about payrolls and presidential debates,” Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at AxiCorp, wrote in a note. “But political malevolence and the torrent of global pandemic concerns continue to rattle on investors’ nerves.” 

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