Asian markets mixed after US midterms; Kospi drops on chipmaker selloff

Asian shares mostly rose Thursday after U.S. stocks rallied post-midterm elections, with the Dow jumping over 3% as President Trump's party lost sole control of Washington. South Korea's Kospi fell sharply, however, on heavy selling of chipmakers. The Kospi sank 3.5% to 5,484.38, with Samsung Electronics down 5.7% and SK Hynix losing 7.4%. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 0.5%, while Taiwan's Taiex lost 1.6%. In contrast, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 2.8% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.9%. Brent crude traded near $94 a barrel, its lowest in two months, after plunging 8.7% Wednesday on expectations a Democratic Congress could push Trump to pull back on the war with Iran. Defense stocks like Lockheed Martin fell 6.9%, while oil companies ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips dropped 4.6% and 5.2% respectively.