Taiwan Weighted Index closed down 589.33 points, or 1.3%, at 44,719.35 on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

Iran held a 40-day memorial for the burial of the late supreme leader Ali Khamenei on the 18th at the courtyard outside Tehran's Imam Khomeini Mosque, Iranian sources said. Large crowds attended. Delegates present included Majlis Speaker Ghalibaf, Hassan Khomeini (grandson of Iran’s first supreme leader), and children of Ali Khamenei. Earlier Iranian reports said Supreme Leader Mujtaba Khamenei would preside in Tehran; live feeds had not shown him by the time of reporting.

China A-shares opened lower and extended losses: ChiNext fell over 3%, the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 2.26%, and the Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.9%.