Asian stocks hit by fresh tech fears as gold retreats from peak

Asian stocks sank Friday amid fresh worries over vast investments in artificial intelligence gold and silver tumbled after hitting multiple record highs and oil retreated on hopes for an easing of USIran tensionsMarkets have endured a rollercoaster ride this week as traders weathered a weaker dollar Donald Trumps threats against Tehran a resumption of tariff warnings and a possible US government shutdownFresh optimism in the tech sector about the future of AI has provided support however with healthy earnings from companies including Meta Samsung and SK hynix providing much cheerHowever the positivity took a hit Thursday after Microsoft announced a surge in spending on AI infrastructure and revived concerns that companies could take some time before seeing a return on their investmentsThere are also fears that firms valuations may be a little too stretched and markets could be in a bubble having soared in recent years to record highs on the back of a techfuelled rallyMicrosoft suffered its worst session since the COVIDera crash falling 12 percent and accounting for over twothirds of the SampP 500s decline wrote National Australia Banks Rodrigo CatrilConcerns centred on rising investment spending slower Azure cloud service growth and a longer runway to monetising AIWall Street ended mostly in the red with the Dow the only advancerAnd Asia also struggledHong Kong and Shanghai fell more than one percent while Tokyo Sydney Singapore Taipei and Manila were also down Seoul and Wellington roseJakarta saw more losses but seemed to be stabilising after a rout over the previous two days sparked by index compiler MSCI calling on regulators to look into ownership concernsMSCI also said it would hold off adding Indonesian stocks to its indexes or increasing their weighting while there are concerns it could announce a downgrade from emerging market to frontier market which could spark an outflow of foreign capitalGold was also in retreat sitting around USD 5200 an ounce a day after topping out above 5595 Silver was at 110 from a peak of more than 121The previous metals were also weighed by a slight uptick in the dollar having tumbled on Trump appearing to be happy to see the worlds reserve currency weaken despite the potential risk of pushing up US inflationInvestors are keeping tabs on developments in the Middle East after the US president sent an armada to the region and warned Iran of possible strikes if it did not reach a fresh nuclear dealBoth main contracts were down more than one percent having spiked as much as five percent ThursdayStill concerns remain about a conflict in the cruderich region which would send prices soaring also putting upward pressure on inflation Key figures at around 0310 GMT Tokyo Nikkei 225 DOWN 09 percent at 5292312 breakHong Kong Hang Seng Index DOWN 14 percent at 2756402Shanghai Composite DOWN 13 percent at 410241West Texas Intermediate UP 15 percent at USD 6414 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude DOWN 11 percent at USD 6991 per barrelEurodollar DOWN at USD 11917 from USD 11962 on ThursdayPounddollar DOWN at USD 13754 from USD 13800Dollaryen UP at 15384 yen from 15304 yenEuropound DOWN at 8664 pence from 8667 penceNew York Dow UP 01 percent at 4907156 closeLondon FTSE 100 UP 02 percent at 1017176 closeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever