Asian shares slide as tech shares crumble after Dow hits 22,000

Asian shares slid on Thursday, led by falls in South Korean tech shares, as investors locked in recent gains after Wall Street's Dow Jones Industrial Average broke the 22,000 barrier for the first time in its 121-year history.

Spreadbetters expected European stocks to follow suit, predicting Britain's FTSE and Germany's DAX to both open about 0.1 percent lower while forecasting a flat open for France's CAC. 

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.6 percent, with South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi index on course to drop 1.6 percent. 

Samsung Electronics, which last Friday posted its biggest daily fall since October, slid 2.3 percent, giving up the gains made so far this week. SK Hynix dropped 2.9 percent.

Some Seoul shares took an additional hit from President Moon Jae-in's new tax plan.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.3 percent. 

In New York overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped the 22,000 mark for the first time on the strength in Apple shares following its earnings. 

The S&P 500 gained 0.05 percent, hovering just below its record high touched last week, supported by upbeat earnings and rising expectations that the Federal Reserve's policy tightening will move ahead only slowly. 

U.S. inflation has been contained even as the country's labor market appears to be in its best shape in many years, with the jobless rate staying near a 17-year low. 

A report by private payrolls processor ADP showed on Wednesday that private U.S. employers added 178,000 jobs in July, slightly below economists' expectations, although payroll gains in June were revised up to 191,000 from an originally reported 158,000. 

Market participants expect the more closely watched government employment report due on Friday to show a solid expansion in U.S. job creation.