Asian markets mostly declined, with Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea's markets dragged down by semiconductor stocks, while India's market reopened after a holiday with a drop of over 1%.In China, profits of industrial enterprises above designated size rose by 15.2% year-on-year in the first two months. The People's Bank of China conducted a seven-day reverse repo operation with a net injection of RMB1.257 billion in a single day. The Shanghai Composite Index rose by 10 points or 0.3% to 3,899 points at midday; the Shenzhen Component Index increased by 125 points or 0.9% to 13,752 points. Hong Kong's HSI rose by 135 points or 0.5% to 24,992 points, with a turnover of HKD1.358 billion. Taiwan's TAIEX fell by 396 points or 1.2% to 32,941 points. TSMC fell by 1.1%, ASE Technology and MediaTek dropped by 2.1% and 2.2%, while Hon Hai and Delta Electronics fell by 0.5% and 0.3%.Japan's Nikkei 225 fell by 53 points or less than 0.1% to 53,550 points. SoftBank rose by 3.9%, while Tokyo Electron and Advantest fell by 4% and 3.2%, respectively. Memory stock Kioxia fell by 4.8%. Fiber optic stocks Furukawa Electric and Sumitomo Electric each fell by 4.4%. South Korea's KOSPI fell by 56 points or 1% to 5,403 points. Memory stocks Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell by 2.6% and 2.7%, while tech investment company SK Square dropped by 4.1%. Defense stock Hanwha Aerospace and power stock Doosan Enerbility each fell by 3.7% and 3.5%.India's Nifty 50 Index fell by 276 points or 1.2% to 23,030 points. Shriram Finance fell by 4.6%, Tata Motors fell by 4.5%, budget airline IndiGo and conglomerate Reliance Industries fell by 3.1% and 2.7%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index fell by 21 points or 0.3% to 8,503 points. Gold mining stock Newmont rose by 1%, while National Australia Bank and Macquarie fell by 1.2% and 1.9%. New Zealand's NZX 50 Index fell by 41 points or 0.3% to 12,935 points.Singapore's Straits Times Index rose by 13 points or 0.3% to 4,901 points. Singtel and chip testing company AEM Holdings each rose by over 1%, maritime stock Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rose by 3.9%, while infrastructure company Keppel fell by 2.9%. Malaysia and Thailand's markets rose by 0.1% and 0.5%, while Indonesia and the Philippines' markets fell by 0.9% and 0.3%, and Vietnam's Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh markets each rose by 0.4%. (fc/u)
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