Japan's Nikkei falls as Samsung-led chip selloff weighs on regional tech stocks
Japan's Nikkei falls as Samsung-led chip selloff weighs on regional tech stocks By Junko Fujita
TOKYO, July 7 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average fell on Tuesday as semiconductor-related heavyweights declined after a drop in South Korea's Samsung Electronics weighed on regional technology stocks.
The Nikkei .N225 was down 1.35% at 68,798.93, as of 0133 GMT.
The broader Topix index .TOPX slipped 0.21% to 4,093.39 after hitting a record high of 4,137.62 earlier in the session, as investors bought financial and other beaten-down value stocks.
"The market looked into the shares of Samsung Electronics 005930.KS, which fell even as the memory chipmaker's forecast beat the market forecast," said Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities.
Shares of Japan's high-flying memory maker Kioxia 285A.T fell 10.86% and chip-related Advantest 6857.T and Tokyo Electron 8035.T lost 0.64% and 1.85%, respectively.
"This is a healthy correction of the distorted market. The market is selling chip-related stocks and buying value shares which became cheap," Shimada said.
The tech-heavy Nikkei tends to track moves in South Korea's benchmark index, which is also heavily weighted toward chip stocks.
Samsung Electronics 005930.KS fell more than 5%, weighing on regional technology shares, after the world's largest memory chipmaker on Tuesday forecast a 19-fold jump in second-quarter operating profit from a year earlier. This disappointed investors who had expected a stronger earnings outlook.
South Korea's stock benchmark KOSPI .KS11 slumped more than 5% in early trade.
Japan's banking shares rose, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group 8306.T up 3%. Shares of Mizuho Financial Group 8411.T and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group 8316.T advanced 2% and 1.26%, respectively.
Toyota Motor 7203.T rose 1.45%.
Topix's value share index .TOPXV climbed 0.14%, against a 0.36% fall of the growth share index .TOPXG.
Of the more than 1,500 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's prime market, 66% rose, 31% slipped and 2% traded flat.
(Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
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