17.02.201705:24:00UTC+00Asian Markets Mostly Lower as Samsung Electronics Shares Decline

Asian stocks closed mostly lower, as shares of Samsung Group were in focus after the arrest of its chief. Jay Y. Lee was arrested on Friday, over his alleged role in the corruption scandal that prompted South Korea's parliament to impeach President Park Geun-hye.

South Korea's Kospi finished nearly flat at 2,080.58. Samsung Electronics dropped 0.4 percent at 1,893,000 Korean won. Shares of Samsung SDI rose 0.8 percent, Samsung Electro-Mechanics added 0.8 percent, Samsung C&T shed two percent while Samsung Engineering was down 1.2 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 retreated 0.58 percent to 19,234.62 and the Topix slid 0.42 percent to 1,544.54. Sharp bucked the trend and finished 2.80 percent higher at 331 yen, after the Japanese electronics firm revised its earnings estimates.

Australia's ASX 200 was down 0.18 percent at 5,805, as major resource producers declined more than one percent each. China's Shanghai composite fell 0.86 percent to 3,201.96 while the Shenzhen composite dropped 0.66 percent to 1,945.10. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading 0.5 percent lower.

Back to news list