Techs lead Asian equity market decline Asian stocks were lower on Wednesday, as Japanese chipmakers and computer component manufacturers led the losses. Both the Nikkei and the broader Topix indices fell 2 per cent, with more than 900 Topix constituents trading without the rights to their latest dividends. A profit warning on Tuesday from Germany's Infineon, the maker of memory chips used primarily in the car industry, left Japanese chipmakers and component makers floundering. Chipmaker Toshiba fell 3.5 per cent to Y248 after Sharp said it was cutting costs by slashing jobs and divesting assets, including selling some of its stake in Toshiba. Shares in Sharp ended flat at Y207. Chip tester Advantest fell 3.8 per cent to Y1,079, while component maker Taiyo Yuden was the biggest faller on the Nikkei, down 9.3 per cent to Y672. Alps Electric, which makes electronic parts for cars and computers, lost 6.2 per cent to Y421. All three were among the ex-dividend stocks. The Nikkei 225 index ended the session down 2 per cent at 8,906.7, helping push the FTSE Asia Pacific index down 1.2 per cent to 235.83. In China, the Shanghai Composite index fell 1.2 per cent to 2,004.2, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.8 per cent to 20,527.73. Shares in Chinese carmaker BYD were hit by a stark target price downgrade by CLSA, the brokerage, which said demand for BTD's products were in decline. CLSA slashed its target to HK$0.41 from a previous HK$7.40, a cut of 94.5 per cent. The maker of electric cars, in which Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owns a stake, fell 5.4 per cent to Rmb13.99 on the Shenzhen exchange, but was down 9.8 per cent to HK13.26 in Hong Kong. Esprit Holdings, the fashion retailer, fell 6.9 per cent to HK$12.34 after full-year net profit missed forecasts. Seoul shares were undermined by construction groups after unlisted builder Kukdong Engineering & Construction was reported to be suffering serious liquidity problems that could send the company bankrupt. Its parent company Woonjing Holdings slid 5.6 per cent to Won3,190. The Kospi Composite fell 0.6 per cent to 1,980.44. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.3 per cent to 4,361.6, while India's BSE Sensex fell 0.2 per cent to 18,649.1.