Mild rise in Asia with the exception of the Nikkei 225 – SoftBank plunges 7%

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were muted, with Hong Kong and Japan the counterweights of today’s session, weighed down by trading in some heavyweights.

In particular, in Japan the Nikkei 225 fell 0.87% and the Topix lost 0.66%. “Weighed” SoftBank shares slide 7% after the $21.68 billion loss it announced yesterday for its investment unit Vision Fund in the quarter, with the Group’s total losses amounting to $23.3 billion in compared with a profit of 761.5 billion yen in the same period last year. The Vision Fund has been hit hard by tech stocks from rising interest rates.

At South Korea the Kospi adds 0.13%, while the Kosdaq remains almost unchanged.

In Australiathe S&P/ASX 200 posted marginal gains.

The Hang Seng Index at Hong Kong gains about 1%, with heavyweight Alibaba climbing 2.53%. Alibaba has applied to change its listing status in Hong Kong to primary from secondary, the company said in a statement. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange acknowledged the application on August 8. The change will likely take effect before the end of 2022.

In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.31% and Shenzhen is up 0.2%. Shares of smart transportation company Zhengzhou Tiamaes Technology rallied about 20% after China’s transport ministry released draft rules for autonomous vehicles that could lead to the legalization of such vehicles on public roads. Strong gains for the ShenZhen RoadRover Technology stock as well, exceeding 10%.

The broadest indicator MSCI for Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.31%.

The markets of Singapore and India are closed for public holidays on Tuesday.