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In Seoul, the bustling streets of Hongdae are a vivid testament to South Korea’s dynamic culture, captured beautifully by Twenty47studio through Moment and Getty Images.
On Friday, South Korea’s Kospi index reached new heights for the third consecutive day, driven by ongoing trade discussions with the United States, even as other Asian markets faced declines.
The Kospi surged to an intraday peak of 3,794.87 before settling back to hover around previous levels, ultimately closing slightly higher at 3,748.89.
Conversely, the Kosdaq, representing smaller-cap stocks, dipped 0.68%, finishing the day at 859.54.
Elsewhere across the Asia-Pacific region, markets mirrored Wall Street’s downturn, as concerns about the banking sector and escalating trade tensions took center stage.
Other Asia-Pacific markets traded weaker, tracking losses on Wall Street as fears over the banking sector and trade tensions intensified.
Shares of regional banks and investment bank Jefferies tumbled Thursday stateside as fears mounted around some bad loans lurking in the U.S.
Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. fell 2.36% Friday, ending at 1,450 New Taiwan dollars a share ($47.28). The chip heavyweight posted a third-quarter earnings beat after Taiwan’s market closed Thursday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.23%, leading losses in Asia and dragged by educational and energy stocks.
Notably, Chinese automaker BYD‘s stocks fell more than 3% after the carmaker filed a plan with China’s State Administration for Market Regulation for its largest recall of around 115,000 vehicles due to design defects and battery-related issues.
The CSI 300 on the mainland was down 2.06%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.44% and closed at 47,582.15, while the broad-based Topix fell 1.03% and ended at 3,170.44.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.81% to finish at 8,995.3, snapping a three-day winning streak.
Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports posted a sharp rebound in September, jumping 6.9% from a year earlier, defying expectations of a 2.1% drop and reversing an 11.3% fall in August.
U.S. stock futures were slightly lower on Thursday night stateside after the previous session saw a sell-off fueled by concerns about regional banks’ loan practices.
Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 301.07 points, or nearly 0.7%, to close at 45,952.24. Earlier in the day, the 30-stock index had gained 170 points.
The S&P 500 finished 0.6% lower at 6,629.07, giving up a 0.6% gain at the highs of the session. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5% to settle at 22,562.54.
— CNBC’s Liz Napolitano, Pia Singh and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
