Korean Stocks Plunge as Apple’s Margin Warning Adds to AI Jitters
Asian shares fell on Tuesday after Apple forecast lower gross margins for the holiday quarter, citing rising memory-chip costs, and projected services revenue growth well short of Wall Street expectations, Reuters reported. Apple shares fell 2.8% in after-hours trading. MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan dropped 0.9%, with Japan closed for a holiday. Korean shares fell as much as 3.8%, the sharpest regional decline, and Taiwan lost 1.3%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.3% and Australian shares gained 0.1%.
On Wall Street the S&P 500 slipped 0.5% overnight. Tech earnings weighed on confidence after a rough October for the sector. Voting in the US midterm elections begins today. Polls favour Democrats to win the House, while the Senate is too close to call, and prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi put the chance of Democratic control of the Senate at around 75%.
Elsewhere, the Reserve Bank of Australia is widely expected to raise its cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.85%, and China’s central bank will raise the foreign-exchange deposit reserve ratio to 6% from 4% from 15 November.
Source: reuters.com
