Asian shares skid, tracking Wall Street retreat

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares slipped Friday after a retreat on Wall Street that left the Nasdaq composite down 2.5%.

Tokyo fell nearly 2% but recovered some ground later in the session. Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul also were lower.

China reported its global trade surplus surged nearly 30% in 2021 to $676.4 billion. The trade surplus in December swelled 20.8% over a year earlier to a monthly record of $94.4 billion, customs data showed Friday.

Exports rose to $3.3 trillion in 2021 despite shortages of processor chips for smartphones and other products as global demand rebounded from the pandemic. Manufacturers also were hampered by power rationing imposed in some areas.

South Korea’s central bank raised its key interest rate to 1.25% from 1%, acting to counter inflation. But while it is dialing back monetary stimulus, having raised the benchmark rate twice so far, the government announced 14 trillion won ($11 billion) in extra spending Friday, mainly to help small businesses recovering from the impact of waves of coronavirus outbreaks.

Inflation surged to 3.7% in December, and the latest rate hike “gives a strong signal that the Bank is prioritizing clamping down on inflation and financial imbalances," Alex Holmes of Capital Economics said in a report. “It’s pretty clear that more hikes are imminent," he said.

South Korea’s Kospi declined 1.4% to 2,920.75.

The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.6% to 3,534.17 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 1% to 24,179.16. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 1.5% to 28,078.98.

In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.9% to 7,405.70.

India's Sensex was 0.4% lower.

Technology companies led a sell-off on Wall Street Thursday that pulled the major indexes into the red for the week.

The S&P 500 fell 1.4% to 4,659.03. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped...