The impact of weakness in Wall Street and ongoing selling in technology stocks was visible on global markets. Cryptocurrency Bitcoin also fell sharply and fell to almost half its record level. The entire boom in Bitcoin after US President Donald Trump returned to the White House for the second term is almost over. American futures and Asian stock markets mostly recorded losses on Friday.
How was the condition of Asian markets?
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.5 percent to close at 54,073.52. It appeared to be recovering from early losses this week, with technology shares leading the gains. Shares of SoftBank Group rose 1.9 percent and shares of chip maker Tokyo Electron rose 3 percent. Japan is scheduled to hold general elections on Sunday, where Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is expected to get a strong mandate. South Korea’s Kospi index fell 1.7 percent to 5,076.69. Shares of Samsung Electronics slipped 0.9 percent and SK Hynix slipped 0.6 percent due to weakness in tech stocks. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.2 percent to close at 26,569.14, while China’s Shanghai Composite was almost flat and stood at 4,075.37. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 1.6 percent to 8,745.60. Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.2 percent.
Nine percent decline in bitcoin
Investors’ enthusiasm for Bitcoin faded amid this week’s selloff in tech stocks. It fell nearly 9 percent on Friday morning and was seen trading below $65,000, while on Thursday it had fallen by more than 12 percent. In October, Bitcoin reached a record level of $1,24,000.
Decline seen in American markets
In US markets, S&P 500 futures were down 0.3 percent and Dow Jones futures were down 0.2 percent. The S&P 500 index fell 1.2 percent to 6,798.40 on Thursday, its sixth decline in the past seven sessions. The Dow Jones fell 1.2 percent to 48,908.72 and the Nasdaq fell 1.6 percent to 22,540.59.
Heavy investment in AI puts pressure on tech stocks
Tech stocks remain under pressure as investors worry whether the huge investments being made by big tech companies in artificial intelligence will actually yield profits. Qualcomm shares fell 8.5 percent despite better results. Alphabet shares fell 0.5 percent, while Amazon fell 11 percent in after-hours trading after it announced it would increase capital spending in AI and other areas by more than 50 percent to $200 billion. Meanwhile, new tools from an American AI startup also fueled a selloff in software stocks as they threaten traditional software services.
There was a decline in the prices of gold and silver
Precious metals also witnessed huge fluctuations this week. Gold prices fell 1 percent on Friday to $ 4,843.70 an ounce, while last week they were near $ 5,600. Silver prices fell by 6.6 percent and settled at $ 71.63 an ounce. Last Friday, a decline of more than 31 percent was recorded.
What was the condition of the oil market?
There was a slight rise in the oil market. U.S. crude rose 35 cents to $63.64 a barrel and Brent crude rose 36 cents to $67.91 a barrel. In the currency market, the dollar weakened against the Japanese yen to 156.74, while the euro strengthened to 1.1789 dollars.