Asian Stocks Slide as Wall Street Faces Tech Losses
US futures and Asian shares experienced a decline on Friday, following the downward trend on US Market, as technology stocks continued to weigh heavily on the markets. Bitcoin has fallen to approximately half of its all-time high, relinquishing all the gains it achieved since US President Donald Trump secured his second term in office. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose by 0.5 percent to 54,073.52, bouncing back from earlier losses this week, driven by gains in technology-related stocks. SoftBank Group increased by 1.9 percent, while chipmaker Tokyo Electron saw a rise of 3 percent. Japan is set to conduct its general election on Sunday, where Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi anticipates securing a more robust public mandate for her policies. South Korea’s Kospi declined by 1.7 percent, settling at 5,076.69, as tech shares exerted downward pressure. Samsung Electronics, the largest publicly traded company in the nation, experienced a decline of 0.9 percent. Chipmaker SK Hynix experienced a decline of 0.6 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined by 1.2 per cent, reaching a total of 26,569.14. The Shanghai Composite index remained unchanged at 4,075.37. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined by 1.6 per cent, settling at 8,745.60. Taiwan’s Taiex experienced a decline of 0.2 percent. In the midst of this week’s technology sell-off, Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency globally, experienced waning enthusiasm, trading approximately 9 percent lower at just under USD 65,000 early Friday. This followed a brief decline of over 12 percent, dropping below USD 64,000 on Thursday. That figure has decreased from a record high of over USD 124,000 in October. The future for the S&P 500 was down 0.3 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased by 0.2 percent.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 declined by 1.2 percent, closing at 6,798.40, marking its sixth loss in seven days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced a decline of 1.2 percent, closing at 48,908.72. The Nasdaq composite fell by 1.6 percent, closing at 22,540.59. Technology stocks faced significant declines as apprehensions linger regarding the potential returns on substantial AI investments made by numerous Big Tech companies. Chipmaker Qualcomm experienced a decline of 8.5 per cent, even in light of better-than-expected quarterly revenues. Alphabet experienced a decline of 0.5 percent as investors concentrated on its significant expenditures in AI. Amazon experienced an 11 per cent decline in after-hours trading on Thursday following its announcement of plans to increase capital spending by over 50 per cent, reaching USD 200 billion, focusing on AI and other sectors. The recent introduction of new AI tools by American artificial intelligence startup Anthropic has contributed to a sell-off of software stocks on market this week. The advanced capabilities of these tools suggest that numerous traditional software development services and products may face disruption or replacement.
Gold and silver prices have experienced significant fluctuations this week after a prolonged rally, as investors sought refuge in safe-haven assets due to heightened geopolitical tensions. Gold prices experienced a decline of 1 per cent on Friday, settling at USD 4,843.70 per ounce, following a near approach to USD 5,600 the previous week. Silver prices fell by 6.6 percent to USD 71.63 per ounce following an increase earlier this week. It experienced a decline of over 31 per cent last Friday. In other dealings early Friday, US benchmark crude oil increased by 35 cents, reaching USD 63.64 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, increased by 36 cents to reach USD 67.91 a barrel. The US dollar decreased to 156.74 Japanese yen, down from 157.03 yen. The euro was trading at USD 1.1789, an increase from USD 1.1777.
