Asia-Pacific stocks mostly decline; Samsung shares fall as heir Lee is released from prison

South Korean and Taiwanese stocks led losses among major Asia-Pacific markets in Friday trade, with shares of firms related to conglomerate Samsung falling.

The broader Kospi in South Korea closed 1.16% lower at 3,171.29 while the Taiex in Taiwan dropped 1.38% to finish the trading day at 16,982.11.

Shares of South Korean industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics plunged 3.38% while Samsung C&T dropped 0.74%. Samsung Life Insurance fell 0.39% and Samsung SDS declined 1.96%.

Those losses came after Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee was released from prison on Friday. South Korea’s justice ministry announced earlier this week that he had qualified for parole.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped about 0.7%, as of its final hour of trading. Mainland Chinese stocks were also lower as the Shanghai composite dipped 0.24% to close at 3,516.30 while the Shenzhen component declined 0.691% to finish the trading day at 14,799.03.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed 0.14% lower at 27,977.15 while the Topix index advanced 0.15% to finish the trading day at 1,956.39.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.54% higher to close at 7,628.90 as investors watched the coronavirus situation, with the country’s capital Canberra entering a week-long lockdown from Thursday after a Covid-19 case was identified.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 14.88 points to 35,499.85 while the S&P 500 gained about 0.3% to 4,460.83. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.35% to 14,816.26.