Asia Market Wrap 5 November: Kospi Tumbles 5.28% While the Hang Seng Rises 3.67%
First published at 07:44 GMT; updated with the session’s closing edition at 10:21 GMT.
Seoul’s Kospi suffered the deepest fall in this wrap on Thursday, closing 5.28% lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rallied 3.67% to lead the region’s gainers.
Bloomberg reported that a rotation tied to the US midterm elections was favouring economically sensitive stocks over chipmakers, and that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix fell in Seoul on concern that tighter US data centre rules would hurt demand for their memory chips. In The Edge’s reading, the session split along that line: Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell, while seven of the ten markets in this wrap rose, Tokyo’s broader Topix among them.
Hong Kong and Sydney lead the gains
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose for a fifth straight session, and Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 closed 2.61% higher. India’s Nifty 50 posted a sixth straight gain, and Singapore’s Straits Times index snapped a five-session losing streak. In mainland China, the Shenzhen Component added 1.19% while the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.10%.
Seoul and Taipei lead the declines
Seoul’s Kospi led the declines, and Taipei’s Taiex lost 3.20% for a sixth straight session. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.79% for a fourth straight session, though the broader Topix rose 1.16%.
Top gainers
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Hang Seng (Hong Kong) | 24,796.98 | +3.67% |
| S&P/ASX 200 (Australia) | 9,065.10 | +2.61% |
| Nifty 50 (India) | 24,536.60 | +2.40% |
| Shenzhen Component (China) | 11,471.09 | +1.19% |
| Topix (Japan) | 3,940.39 | +1.16% |
| Straits Times (Singapore) | 5,296.25 | +0.52% |
| Shanghai Composite (China) | 3,689.91 | +0.10% |
Closes of Thursday 5 November 2026 from the exchanges’ and administrators’ own pages, ranked by change against the prior session’s closes as published.
Top losers
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Nikkei 225 (Japan) | 61,077.90 | -1.79% |
| Taiex (Taiwan) | 41,574.72 | -3.20% |
| Kospi (South Korea) | 5,383.80 | -5.28% |
Top losers, same session and basis.
Commodities and currencies
| Instrument | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Gold, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | 4,134.80 | +1.52% |
| Silver, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | 52.71 | +0.82% |
| Brent Crude, ICE (Jan’27), dollars a barrel | 95.83 | +1.28% |
| WTI Crude, NYMEX (Dec’26), dollars a barrel | 88.43 | +0.35% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 101.52 | -0.05% |
| Euro/Dollar | 1.1230 | +0.03% |
| Sterling/Dollar | 1.3459 | -0.09% |
| Dollar/Yen | 158.32 | -0.06% |
Intraday quotes at 10:02 GMT, the metals and crude as of 09:52 GMT, in fixed order; snapshots, not settlements; futures from the prior settlement, the dollar and currencies from the previous close.
What to watch: the US Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the October employment report on Friday 6 November at 13:30 GMT.
Closes are from the exchanges’ and administrators’ own pages, measured against the prior session’s closes as published, with run lengths counted against The Edge’s published records; percentages and counts not attributed to a source are The Edge’s calculations.
How these wraps are prepared: Methodology.
Sources: Nikkei Inc., Japan Exchange Group, Korea Exchange, Taiwan Stock Exchange, ASX, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Hang Seng Indexes, Singapore Exchange, National Stock Exchange of India, Bloomberg, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, CNBC, The Edge.
