Hong Kong (AFP) – Asian equities sank again on Friday as a tech rout that battered Wall Street for the third day in a row showed no sign of letting up amid growing unease about the hundreds of billions splashed out on artificial intelligence. The selling continued to be felt across assets, with silver taking another beating and bitcoin wiping out all the gains built up since Donald Trump’s US election win.
January’s bristling rally has given way to caution this month as traders grow concerned about stretched valuations in the tech arena and the wisdom of the investments pumped into AI amid questions about when they will see returns. Those fears have increased during the earnings season as big-name firms unveiled eye-watering levels of planned spending for the sector: between them, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet have outlined around $385 billion in possible outlays.
The panic has been compounded after AI startup Anthropic — which created the Claude chatbot — unveiled a model that could replace numerous software tools, including for legal work and data marketing. “When AI starts to replicate tasks traditionally performed by professionals — drafting, analysing, coding, reviewing — it naturally raises questions about the long-term pricing power of certain software products,” wrote Saxo Markets’ Charu Chanana. “Investors are no longer impressed simply by the presence of AI features.”
This is why the pressure has shown up most clearly in Software as a Service: it’s where the market is first forced to debate what AI will replace, who retains pricing power, and who absorbs the costs of adoption. All three main indexes on Wall Street saw hefty losses on Thursday, with the Nasdaq leading the way down again. It has suffered its worst three-day period since Trump’s tariff-induced April meltdown.
And the gloom carried into Asia, where Seoul — which has led the region’s rally thanks to its heavy tech weighting — lost around five percent at one point before ending 1.4 percent lower. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Mumbai, Taipei, and Manila were also deep in the red, although Tokyo, Manila, and Bangkok rose. London, Paris, and Frankfurt opened lower. Jakarta sank more than two percent after ratings agency Moody’s cut Indonesia’s sovereign credit outlook to negative, citing concerns about its fiscal health, foreign reserves, and debt at state-owned firms.
Adding to the selling was data showing that US monthly job openings hit the lowest since 2020, while firms announced the most January job cuts since 2009 during the global financial crisis. That ramped up concerns about the US economy. Precious metals were once again on the receiving end of the selling juggernaut, with silver losing around 18 percent at one point before recovering to sit around $72 an ounce — its lowest since December — having topped out above $121 just a week ago. Gold fell just below $4,800 before paring its losses. However, that compared with its peak last Thursday of $5,595.
The commodities were hammered last weekend by a surge in the dollar — after Trump picked a relative policy hawk to head the Federal Reserve — and easing geopolitical tensions. The flight from risk has sent bitcoin to depths not seen since October and was a whisker from breaching $60,000 — wiping out all the Trump trade gains built up on hopes the president would introduce more crypto-friendly measures. The digital unit has now lost more than half its value since touching its record high above $126,000 in October.
Oil prices rose more than one percent as officials from Iran and the United States kicked off talks in Oman on Tehran’s nuclear programme and other issues, with Washington refusing to rule out military action. Shares in British-Australian giant Rio Tinto finished flat in Sydney, having earlier shed more than two percent after it dropped merger talks with Swiss resources firm Glencore. The deal would have created the world’s biggest mining firm, worth about US$260 billion. Rio’s London-listed stock fell more than one percent.
Toyota climbed two percent in Tokyo after announcing it had hiked its profit and sales forecasts for the current fiscal year despite the impact of US tariffs. It also named finance chief Kenta Kon as the new CEO to “accelerate” decision-making.
– Key figures at around 0815 GMT –
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 54,253.68 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.2 percent at 26,559.95 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 4,065.58 (close)
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 10,274.88
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1791 from $1.1784 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3568 from $1.3541
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 156.87 yen from 157.02 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.91 pence from 87.02 pence
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.3 percent at $64.13 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.2 percent at $68.39 per barrel
New York – Dow: DOWN 1.2 percent at 48,908.72 (close)
© 2024 AFP
