London (AFP) – Global stock markets wobbled on Friday as investors digested a wave of corporate announcements, while the Nasdaq failed to get a boost from the debut of shares of South Korean chip titan SK hynix. The supplier of advanced memory chips used for AI technology raised $26.5 billion for its mega US listing due Friday, in one of the world’s biggest-ever stock sales. The chipmaker set a price of $149 for each American depositary share — slightly more than its Seoul closing price Thursday — ahead of its debut on the Nasdaq. That meant it had raised $26.5 billion, the most for a US listing by a foreign firm.
SK hynix, along with Samsung and Micron, is a heavyweight in the global market for the high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers alongside other data-crunching semiconductors. “The South Korean company wanted to benefit from the appetite for AI among US investors, and it seems it won’t be disappointed,” said Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club. “Even though the stock has already risen by around 660 percent over the past year…plenty of investors are still desperate to get a slice of the company,” she added.
Like with an initial public offering, SK hynix shares were not immediately quoted on the Nasdaq when trading got underway. They rose around 17 percent when public trading began. The Nasdaq’s composite index dipped at the start of trading and spent most of the morning in the red, and was flat as SK hynix shares began to trade. Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said SK hynix (SKHY) shares were sucking money from shares in competitors as investors were buying into the South Korean firm. “The irony is that…increased equity supply from the SKHY offering is grounding other semiconductor stocks for the time being,” he said in a note to investors before the market opened. “That could potentially lead to another buy-the-dip opportunity, but for now, buyers are keeping mostly to the sidelines,” he added.
South Korea led gains in Asia, while European markets ended the day mixed. Shares in Meta shot up more than six percent after the Facebook and Instagram-parent launched Muse Spark 1.1, an AI model for computer coders, putting it in more direct competition with leaders OpenAI and Anthropic. British mobile phone giant Vodafone saw its share price surge 12.6 percent, topping London’s FTSE 100 index, after French tycoon Xavier Niel was set to pay 5.1 billion euros ($5.8 billion) to become the group’s largest shareholder.
On the second-tier FTSE 250, EasyJet shares soared 14.1 percent after US investor Apollo swooped in with a $7.7-billion takeover offer for the British no-frills airline. Oil prices retreated after spiking earlier in the week as the United States and Iran exchanged fire again. “As we move to the end of the week, volatility has retreated and fears about an escalation in tensions between the US and Iran appear overdone,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB. “If we do not return to a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the impact from the war in the Middle East should not leave a lasting scar on the global economy,” she added.
– Key figures around 1530 GMT –
New York – Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 52,614.18 points
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 7,556.10
New York – Nasdaq Composite: FLAT at 26,215.18
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 10,497.29 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.2 at 8,338.97 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 25,067.09 (close)
Seoul – Kospi: UP 2.5 percent at 7,475.94 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.2 percent at 68,557.73 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.6 percent at 24,175.12 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.0 percent at 3,996.16 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1434 from $1.1430 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3417 from $1.3410
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 161.48 yen from 162.38 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.21 pence from 85.23 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.5 percent at $75.91 a barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.9 percent at $71.46 a barrel
© 2024 AFP
