Asian shares experienced a largely downward trend on Friday following continued losses on Wall Street, primarily driven by declines in technology stocks. U.S. futures mirrored this downturn, indicating a cautious market sentiment.
In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index saw a modest increase of 0.8%, climbing to 54,253.68. This uptick came as a relief after a series of losses earlier in the week. Gains were notably led by technology-related firms, such as SoftBank Group, which rose by 2.2%, and chipmaker Tokyo Electron, which increased by 2.6%. The market sentiment was further buoyed as Japan approaches its general election on Sunday, where Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is anticipated to secure a stronger public mandate for her policies.
Toyota Motor shares also rose by 2% as the company announced that CEO Koji Sato will step down in April and will be succeeded by Chief Financial Officer Kenta Kon.
Conversely, South Korea’s Kospi index fell by 1.4% to 5,089.14, pulled down by losses in tech shares, including a 0.4% decline for Samsung Electronics and a similar decrease for chipmaker SK Hynix. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index declined by 1.4% to 26,519.60, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.3%, settling at 4,065.58. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 suffered a 2% drop to 8,708.80, with Taiwan’s Taiex remaining relatively stable and India’s Sensex trading down by 0.1%.
Bitcoin, the premier cryptocurrency, experienced a substantial decline, trading nearly 8% lower at just under $65,000. This marked a significant retreat from its all-time high of over $124,000 recorded in October, as it relinquished all gains since the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Futures for the S&P 500 fell by 0.2%, while those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped by 0.1%. On Thursday, the S&P 500 plummeted 1.2% to 6,798.40, marking its sixth decline in the past seven days. The Dow also dropped 1.2%, and the Nasdaq composite fell by 1.6%. The sharp declines in technology stocks continued to raise concerns among investors about the potential returns on substantial investments in artificial intelligence (AI) by major tech firms.
Qualcomm’s stock suffered an 8.5% drop despite posting better-than-expected quarterly revenues, and Alphabet saw a 0.5% decline amid scrutiny over its AI spending. Amazon’s shares plummeted by 11% in after-hours trading following its announcement of plans to increase capital spending on AI and related initiatives by over 50% to $200 billion.
The recent market turmoil was compounded by the unveiling of sophisticated AI tools from American startup Anthropic, which raised concerns that traditional software development jobs could be disrupted or replaced.
In the commodities market, gold and silver prices exhibited volatility after a prolonged rally, driven by heightened geopolitical tensions. Gold prices fell 0.6% to $4,858.60 per ounce after recently nearing $5,600. Silver also took a hit, dropping 5.5% to $72.52 per ounce after a steep 31% loss the previous Friday.
In early trading on Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil rose by 35 cents to $63.64 a barrel, while Brent crude gained 36 cents, settling at $67.91 a barrel. The U.S. dollar weakened against the Japanese yen, trading down to 156.74 yen from 157.03, while the euro appreciated to $1.1789 from $1.1777.
