According to Kabutan, Yonhap and HKET, Japan's Nikkei 225 opened 172.06 points higher at 64,126.25 on Thursday, extending gains for a third straight session, while the TOPIX opened at 3,992.09, up 0.38 points. A 1.75% rise in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index in the previous session supported Japanese chip stocks, with Advantest and Kioxia Holdings among the gainers. The Nikkei was up 619 points at 64,573 as of 01:00 UTC, and Advantest was up 7.93% at 37,700 yen as of 01:37 UTC. The Bank of Japan holds its policy meeting today and tomorrow, with Governor Kazuo Ueda scheduled to hold a press conference tomorrow evening.
South Korea's KOSPI opened at 6,017.22, up 4.78 points, and was up 10.2 points, or 0.17%, at 6,022.64 as of 00:15 UTC. The Federal Reserve's policy committee voted 10-2 to keep its benchmark rate unchanged at 3.75-4%. Samsung Electronics reported third-quarter operating profit up 783.1% year on year at 107.44 trillion won and revenue up 126.9% at 195.25 trillion won, while net profit rose 514.6% to 75.13 trillion won. Korean stocks later turned lower as Samsung's semiconductor division fell short of expectations. As of 01:37 UTC, Samsung Electronics was down 2.48% at 236,000 won, while SK Hynix was up 2.56% at 1,525,000 won.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index opened 6 points lower at 23,088 on futures expiry day, while the Hang Seng TECH Index was down 0.5% at 3,834. Lenovo fell 2%, HSBC slipped 0.4% and CSOP SK Hynix Daily Max (2x) Leveraged Product added more than 3%. As of 01:37 UTC, Tencent was down 0.41% at HK$386.00.
Taiwan's TAIEX opened at 47,014.87, down 20.71 points, with TSMC opening at NT$2,420, down NT$5. The index later extended losses, at one point falling more than 400 points to around 46,600, while United Microelectronics (UMC) at one point dropped nearly 9% to NT$116.5. As of 01:37 UTC, TSMC was down 0.41% at NT$2,415 and MediaTek was down 2.60% at NT$4,125.
In mainland China, major indexes opened lower. The Shanghai Composite opened at 3,676.77, down 4.7 points or 0.13%; the Shenzhen Component opened at 11,379, down 94.18 points or 0.82%; and the ChiNext Index opened at 2,596.22, down 38.54 points or 1.46%.
