Asian markets experienced mixed results on Monday, influenced by the performance of artificial intelligence-related shares. In Japan and South Korea, major benchmarks dipped as AI stocks faced significant selling pressure. However, gains in other sectors helped to balance these losses.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 saw a decrease of 1% to 68,704.70, following a more substantial decline of 4.2% on Friday. Notable changes included a 5.9% drop in SoftBank Group’s shares, after it previously fell by 12.5%. In South Korea, the Kospi index fell 2% to 8,246.50, having already decreased 5.8% on Friday. Samsung Electronics and memory chipmaker SK Hynix recorded losses of 6% and 4.5% respectively.
Conversely, Taiwan’s Taiex index rose 1.1%, recovering some ground lost after a 3.6% drop on Friday. The region’s strength in the tech sector, particularly companies like TSMC, contributed to this rebound.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng increased by 2.1% to 23,153.89, and the Shanghai Composite Index modestly grew by 0.2% to 4,034.08. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4% to 8,798.00, while India’s Sensex remained nearly stable.
Friday’s trading on Wall Street saw AI-related concerns impact the market. Although the S&P 500 fell less than 0.1% to 7,354.02, the tech-focused Nasdaq composite dropped 0.2% to 25,297.62. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 0.1% to 51,876.11. Major U.S. tech stocks like Micron Technology, Intel, Nvidia, and AMD all suffered declining shares.
In commodity markets, early Monday trading saw Brent crude rise by 0.7% to $73.27 a barrel, reflecting an increase from approximately $72 before the Iran conflict began. U.S. crude also went up by 0.8% to $70.02 a barrel.
ING’s Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey commented on the risks to the oil market amid U.S.-Iran tensions. They noted the ongoing risk and potential for significant price increases if supply recovery remains slow or if tensions escalate further. Concerns about shipping safety in the Strait of Hormuz are also influencing market sentiments.
In currency markets, the U.S. dollar strengthened slightly against the Japanese yen, moving from 161.71 yen to 161.81 yen. The euro stayed stable at $1.1386.
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