Global stock markets have fallen amid concern about the prospects for tech stocks while oil prices have risen as attacks in the Middle East stoked fears that a fragile truce in the region could break.
Stock markets in Asia and Europe fell on Monday after a sharp sell-off in US tech stocks late last week, as investors fretted over how companies at the forefront of the artificial intelligence boom would fund their “eye-watering” spending plans.
Meanwhile, Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, rose by nearly 5% to $97.60 a barrel on Monday after Iran and Israel exchanged fire over an Israeli strike on Beirut.
In Asia, a region heavily dependent on oil imports, stock markets dropped sharply on Monday. The South Korean Kospi index slumped by nearly 9% at one point, forcing trading to be briefly suspended. The fall was led by the chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, whose share price dropped by 9% and 6% respectively.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index fell 3%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped by 1.5%.
In London, the FTSE 100 opened down 0.4%, with the jet engine maker Rolls-Royce and British Airways’ parent company, IAG, among the biggest fallers. Shares in the oil companies BP and Shell rose.
Stock markets in Germany, France and Spain also fell. US markets are expected to open down later on Monday.
Shares in European companies at the heart of the AI boom fell sharply at the start of trading.
Chip firms such as Besi – BE Semiconductor Industries – was down 4.5% and ASML fell by 3.2%, and were among the big fallers on the pan-European Stoxx 600 index, which is down almost 0.9%.
The German tech firm Aixtron has dropped almost 6%, while Finland’s telecoms firm Nokia fell 5%.
The declines on Monday followed a sharp sell-off in tech stocks at the end of last week, when the tech-heavy Nasdaq index lost nearly 5% of its value. The US blue chip S&P 500 index also dropped 2% on a weekly basis, ending nine-weeks of gains.
Investors are growing more nervous about the valuation of AI stocks, especially amid the rising prospect of higher inflation and interest rates this year.
Susannah Streeter, the chief investment strategist at the broker Wealth Club, said markets were now pricing in a greater likelihood of an interest rate rise from the Federal Reserve this year.
“Fears of higher interest rates come just as tech giants, which have some of the deepest cash pockets, are seeking fresh funding to help finance eye-watering capital expenditure plans,” she said.
“The demand is voracious right now, but there is concern that assets being invested in today, at a time when the technology is so expensive, could become obsolete further down the road.”
Charu Chanana, the chief investment strategist at the investment bank Saxo, said: “The market is becoming more selective on AI. Investors now want clearer proof of earnings delivery, monetisation, capex discipline and funding returns.
“This looks more like a positioning reset than a regime…
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