Asian stocks muted, tech falls ahead of TSMC earnings

Investing.com -- Most Asian stocks firmed slightly on Thursday, although local technology shares were sold off on weak cues from Wall Street, and as investors turned wary of the sector ahead of earnings from chipmaking giant TSMC.

Regional technology stocks took a weak lead-in from Wall Street, as Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) reported disappointing earnings and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) clocked shrinking margins. Focus is now on quarterly results from chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TW:2330) (NYSE:TSM), or TSMC, to gauge how global chip demand fared in the past three months.

TSMC is expected to clock a 27% decline in quarterly profits, and a 13% drop in revenue, according to a Reuters poll. Shares of the world’s largest chipmaker by production were flat, while the Taiwan Weighted index rose slightly.

Asian tech stocks under pressure from weak U.S. cues

Other tech-heavy indexes also came under pressure from weak U.S. signals. South Korea’s KOSPI was flat, with chipmakers SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) and Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) Co Ltd (KS:005930) down 1.3% and 0.6%, respectively.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was the worst performer in Asia for the day, down 1.2% on steep losses in major technology stocks. Semiconductor testing equipment maker Advantest Corp (TYO:6857) was the biggest decliner on the Nikkei, losing 4.4%, amid uncertainty ahead of TSMC’s results.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 0.2%, with losses in heavyweight technology firms largely offsetting a mild recovery in battered property stocks.

China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes fell 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively, extending losses into a fourth straight session after soft gross domestic product data earlier this year.

Futures for India’s Nifty 50 index pointed to a weak open for local shares, after the Nifty and the BSE Sensex 30 notched record highs this week.

Australia’s ASX 200 index was flat, after data showed the country’s job market remained resilient through June - a scenario that could attract more rate hikes by the Reserve Bank.

Shares of BHP Group Ltd (ASX:BHP) were mixed as the world’s largest miner clocked record-high iron ore production, but declining sales in the fourth quarter.

Asian EV stocks rise as Tesla falls

Electric carmaker Tesla fell in aftermarket trade on Wednesday as CEO Elon Musk and other executives disappointed investors with scant details on the Cybertruck and plans for automated taxis.

But the firm logged record revenues and consensus-beating, albeit smaller margins in the second quarter - which spurred some buying into the shares of its Asian competitors.

Shares of Chinese EV makers BYD (HK:1211), NIO Inc (HK:9866) and XPeng Inc (NYSE:XPEV) (HK:9868) rose between 0.5% and 1.5% in Hong Kong trade.