HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks fell sharply Thursday, with markets in South Korea and Japan tumbling, as selling of technology stocks intensified after US stocks fell on higher-than-expected inflation data.
U.S. stock futures were mixed.
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index lost 7.9% to 5,532.74. It has fallen more than 16% over the past month and is well below the 9,000 mark it crossed in June, its all-time high, driven by optimism about the global situation. artificial intelligence frenzy.
Samsung Electronics slipped 11.4% and South Korean memory chip maker SK Hynix plunged 12%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 5% to 64,340.84. OpenAI investor SoftBank Group lost 9.4%. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron fell 7.8% and memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings lost 13.1%.
Taiwan’s Taiex, which also benefited from the AI boom, fell 3.4%. Its top chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, fell 2% ahead of its earnings release. TSMC reported better-than-expected profit for the latest quarter on Thursday and the company said demand for AI remained “very strong.”
“The problem for tech-heavy markets such as Korea and Taiwan, and to a lesser extent Japan, is that any risks to perceived growth in AI spending may lead to slower growth in demand for chips and equipment,” said Lorraine Tan, director of Asia equity research at Morningstar.
“The key issue is a possible mismatch between market growth expectations for the technology sector and what might result,” she said.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.4% to 23,982.04. The Shanghai Composite index slipped 2% to 3,692.18.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index edged down 0.1% to 8,719.70.
These declines follow losses on Wall Street on Wednesday. The S&P 500 fell 1.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 1.9% as AI-related stocks fell.
Nvidia lost 3.2%, Broadcom fell 3.1% and Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, fell 5.7%.
United States reported Wednesday that the consumer price index rose 3.7% year-on-year in September, compared to 3.4% in August and worse than economists expected.
Stocks also faced downward pressure from rising bond yields and a volatile bond market. Yields on long-term U.S. Treasury bonds have surged amid inflationary concerns fueled by the global energy shock caused by the war in Iran and continuing. increase in US government debt.
But the selloff in bonds appeared to have eased considerably Thursday morning. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was at 5.11% after briefly climbing above 5.32% on Wednesday. It had reached 5.35% at the start of the month, reaching its highest level since 2002.
Oil prices have fallen due to tensions and uncertainties surrounding global oil supplies and situation in the Middle East train. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.6% to $104.34 a barrel. This remains high compared to the level of around $72 per barrel before the start of the war in Iran in late February.
Benchmark U.S. crude was down 1.2% at $93.98 a barrel.
The US dollar fell to 157.94 Japanese yen from 158.33 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1211, down from $1.1157.
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AP Business Editor Stan Choe contributed to this report.
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