Asian shares were mostly higher Friday after a historic plunge in the stock price of Facebook’s parent company helped yank other tech stocks lower on Wall Street
Hong Kong jumped 3.3% after reopening from Lunar New Year holidays. Shanghai remained closed. Tokyo, Seoul and other regional markets were higher.
Thursday’s retreat in New York ended a four-day winning streak for the market.
The 26.4% wipeout in Meta Platforms, as Facebook’s owner is now known, erased more than $230 billion in market value, easily the biggest one-day loss in history for a U.S. company. The stocks of other social media companies including Twitter and Snap also fell.
Because Meta is valued so highly, a big swing in its stock price can also sink or lift broader market indexes. The S&P 500 fell 2.4%, its biggest drop in nearly a year, to 4,477.44.
The tech-focused Nasdaq composite gave up 3.7%, its biggest loss since September 2020, closing at 13,878.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average which does not include Meta Platforms, fell 1.5% to 35,111.16.
Small company stocks also fell. The Russell 2000…
