Asian Markets Tumble As Tech, Energy Firms Take A Battering

Hong Kong, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Nov, 2018 ) :Technology firms led a plunge in Asian markets Tuesday, tracking a deep sell-off in New York where Apple tumbled on worries about demand for its iPhones, while energy firms were also in free-fall with oil prices.

After last week's US elections-inspired mini-rally, global equities resumed their months-long slide as investors fret over a number of issues from the China-US trade war and Brexit to rising US interest rates and slowing economic growth.

The latest bloodbath comes after a key parts supplier said a client -- widely thought to be Apple -- had slashed orders, stoking speculation that the US titan's popular handset was not selling as well as in the past.

Apple was already under pressure after posting disappointing earnings earlier this month and announcing it would no longer report iPhone sale numbers. The firm sank five percent Monday and is almost 17 percent down from its record high touched at the start of October.

The retreat in New York's tech firms was repeated in Asia, with Apple suppliers and other firms in the sector taking a severe hit.

In Tokyo, Japan Display and Alps Electronics both sank more than seven percent, while Sony was off almost five percent. Taipei-listed Foxconn was 1.7 percent off and Taiwan Semiconductor dived 2.2 percent.

Samsung shed 2.9 percent in Seoul, AAC Technologies retreated more than six percent in Hong Kong, while Tencent was 3.7 percent lower.

The view on broader stock markets was only slightly less startling. Tokyo dropped 3.2 percent by the break, Hong Kong 1.9 percent and Shanghai 0.5 percent.

Sydney, Seoul and Taipei were each 1.7 percent lower, while Singapore, Wellington and Manila were all around one percent off.