HONG KONG:&nbsp;Asian equities went into reverse Friday on continued worries about the AI trade after disappointing forecasts from chip titan Broadcom, while investors were also keeping a wary eye on stuttering Middle East peace efforts. After leading several markets to record highs this year, technology firms are facing selling pressure on concerns that the eye-watering sums pumped into artificial intelligence may have been overdone and stock valuations are too high. Broadcom on Wednesday sparked concern among traders who have piled into all things AI when its revenue forecast for the third quarter came in below expectations, sparking a sell-off in Wall Street&#39;s Nasdaq as dealers took profits and rotated into other sectors. And the losses have bled through to Asia, where tech-heavy Seoul and Tokyo -- which have led the region&#39;s surge this year -- sank from record highs.&nbsp;Stocks tankSouth Korean stocks tanked almost 7% at one point Friday, having dropped 1.8% the day before. The Nikkei in Tokyo was off more than 1%, matching Thursday&#39;s retreat. The losses come as investors contemplate a coming IPO by Elon Musk&#39;s SpaceX, which is aiming to raise $75 billion in the biggest initial public offering ever.&nbsp; The company said in a regulatory filing that it would offer more than 550 million shares at&nbsp;$135 each next week, which could value the company at $1.8 trillion. There were also losses in Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore and Taipei, though Shanghai, Wellington and Manila edged up. Jakarta extended losses amid building fears about the state of the Indonesian economy and the rupiah, which have been hammered by surging oil prices. &quot;Broadcom&#39;s revenue miss sparked profit-taking across the semiconductor sector and gave investors a reason to pause after the recent AI-driven rally,&quot; said City Index&#39;s Fiona Cincotta. &quot;Broadcom&#39;s results suggest investor expectations may have run ahead of fundamentals.&quot; The latest AI wobble came as investors grew nervous about grinding efforts to end the Middle East crisis. The head of Hezbollah on Thursday rejected a conditional truce announced by Lebanon and Israel, demanding a comprehensive ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal from its northern neighbor.&nbsp;&lsquo;Last chance&rsquo;Naim Qassem&#39;s message came after the two sides agreed to a conditional ceasefire that Lebanon&#39;s president called the &quot;last chance&quot; for a durable end to the fighting. Talks between Iran and the United States also appeared to be going nowhere, with Iran reporting &quot;no tangible progress&quot;, even as President Donald Trump again voiced optimism, telling reporters a deal &quot;could happen... over the weekend&quot;. Still, oil prices held their recent losses amid lingering optimism a deal will be struck and the Strait of Hormuz -- through which a fifth of global oil usually passes -- will reopen. Official US jobs data due later in the day are also in focus following forecast-topping private data that indicated the economy remained healthy and fanned bets on the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">Key figures at around 0230 GMT </h2>West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.1% at $93.16 a barrel Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.5% at $95.47 a barrel Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.2% at 66,661.47 (break) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.4% at 25,155.38 Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.3% at 4,067.78 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1615 from $1.1610 on Thursday Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3427 from $1.3423 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 159.95 yen from 160.03 yen Euro/pound: UP at 86.51 pence from 86.50 pence New York - DOW: UP 1.7% at 51,561.93 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3% at 10,360.32 (close)

Business

After leading several markets to record highs this year, technology firms are facing selling pressure on concerns that the eye-watering sums pumped into artificial intelligence may have been overdone and stock valuations are too high.

Articles tagged with "AI Trade"

Asian stocks take another hit from AI, Mideast worries

Asian stocks take another hit from AI, Mideast worries