Asian stocks fall as markets follow Wall Street lower in early trading

The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges opened lower after being closed until Thursday. Shanghai was down 0.2 percent this morning local time, while Shenzhen was down 1.0 percent.

The Hang Seng was down 0.3 percent.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was down 1.0 percent, while the broader Topix was down 1.5 percent.

Despite Samsung Electronics reporting a record preliminary operating profit, South Korea’s Kospi followed the trend, falling 0.7 percent.