Asian Stocks: Asian stocks mixed, South Korean stocks up 1.8%, outperforming

Risk aversion sentiment is rising, and the three major U.S. stock indices fell overnight (1st). Major stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region showed mixed results this morning (2nd), with South Korean stocks rising 1.8%, outperforming the region.

Mainland A-shares were soft this morning, with the Shanghai Composite Index down 21 points or 0.55%, closing at 3,892; the Shenzhen Component Index fell 100 points or 0.77%, closing at 13,045. The Hang Seng Index closed at 26,061 points, up 28 points or 0.1%, with a turnover of HKD 98.997 billion. The Taiwan stock market rose 240 points or 0.9%, closing at 27,583. TSMC rose 1.4%, Hon Hai and Quanta rose 0.7% to 1%, while MediaTek fell 1.7%.

The Nikkei Index rebounded in the afternoon, rising 74 points or 0.15%, closing at 49,377. Anticipating that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates this month, major bank stocks sensitive to interest rates continued to rise, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial each rising about 2.8%; SoftBank fell 3.2%. NVIDIA supplier Advantest rose 1.1%, Tokyo Electron fell nearly 0.9%, and semiconductor equipment stock Tokyo Seimitsu fell 3.2%.

South Korea's Kospi rose 72 points or 1.8%, closing at 3,992. Samsung Electronics rose 2.6%, and SK Hynix rose 3.7%.

The Australian 200 Index rose 9 points or 0.1% in the late market, closing at 8,574. ANZ Bank remained stable, while Macquarie Group fell 1.3%. The New Zealand 50 Index rose 54 points or 0.4%, closing at 13,502.

The Bombay Stock Exchange Index in India fell 338 points or 0.4%, closing at 85,303. The Nifty 50 Index in India fell 104 points or 0.4%, closing at 26,070. ICICI Bank fell 1.1%.

The Singapore Straits Index rose 7 points or 0.2%, closing at 4,533. DBS Bank rose 0.3%, while OCBC Bank and UOB each rose about 0.5%; Jardine Matheson fell nearly 1%.

Floods in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia have resulted in over 1,100 deaths. Other major markets showed mixed results. Indonesia's IDX rose 0.7%, and Malaysia's KLCI rose 0.4%. Thailand's SET 50 and the Philippines' PSEI each fell slightly by 0.2%. Vietnam's Hanoi Index (HNX) fell 0.7%, and the Ho Chi Minh Stock Index (VNI) also fell nearly 0.5%