ASIA MARKETS: Tech-stock Selloff Weighs On Asian Markets

Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong indexes fall; Australia keeps rates steady

A decline in technology stocks continued Tuesday in Asia after the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.1% Monday.

"Investors are rotating out from the valuation-rich sector in an attempt to lock in profits" as the U.S. tax overhaul grinds on, said Margaret Yang, a market analyst at CMC Markets.

Read:Chipmaker, software stocks close sharply lower as tax overhaul progresses (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chipmakers-software-developer-stocks-hit-hard-as-tax-reform-progresses-2017-12-04)

Taiwan's Taiex finished down 0.8% as index heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor (2330.TW) shed a further 1.9%. Its downgrade at the start of last week, along with that of fellow chip giant Samsung (005930.SE) , set off a tech slide that has continued into this week.

Samsung was down 0.2% in Korea, though the Kospi --which Samsung dominates-- closed up 0.3% as steel stocks continued strong.

In other tech hubs, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.1% as Chinese internet giant Tencent (0700.HK) , the city's biggest stock by market size, dropped a further 3.2%.

Japan's Nikkei finished lower by 0.2%, but pared deeper losses. The dollar during the session climbed to session highs above Yen112.60, versus Yen112.80 when local stock trading ended a day earlier.

Still, Nintendo (7974.TO) dropped 3.2% and Sharp (6753.TO) fell 2.1%.

According to CLSA, it is time for investors to go for "old economy" names: "New economy" stocks have little further upside after years of gains.

Some of that was seen in China on Tuesday as the CSI 300--made up of the biggest 300 companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges--was up 0.5%. By contrast, the benchmark in Shenzhen --home to smaller, more tech-focused companies--fell 1.9% and the startup-heavy ChiNext slid 2.2%.

Beyond tech, concern about the state of Brexit talks added to the risk-off mood in global markets.

New Zealand closed down 0.1%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 finished off 0.2%--showing scant reaction to a meeting of Australia's central bank. It turned out as expected, with benchmark interest rates left at a record low.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 05, 2017 05:54 ET (10:54 GMT)