Asian stocks lower as investors unload technology shares

Asian stocks were lower Wednesday as the selloff in technology shares overshadowed the gains in financial equities. Tencent Holdings and Samsung Electronics. retreated.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.2 per cent as of 11:42am in Hong Kong with technology and healthcare companies as the biggest decliners, while material and finance companies were the best gainers.

Speaking in London Tuesday, the US Federal Reserve head Janet Yellen gave no indication that her plans for continued monetary policy tightening had shifted while acknowledging that some asset prices had become “somewhat rich.”

“Legislative and healthcare agenda uncertainty in US combined with the further prospects of rising interest rates after the latest Fed comments leads to more cautiousness from investors,” said Attila Vajda, the Ho Chi Minh City-based managing director at Project Asia Research & Consulting. “Thus stocks with perceived high valuations such as technology stocks are retreating on this cautiousness.”

The gauge of technology shares lost 1.2 per cent, the biggest decline in more than two weeks as Tencent dropped as much as 2 per cent while Samsung Electronics retreated 1.5 per cent. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose as much as 2.5 percent while Mizuho Financial Group advanced 2.9 per cent.

​* Bloomberg