Seoul [Korea], June 10, (ANI): Asian tech stocks led by heavyweight names like Softbank, Samsung and SK Hynix resumed their slide after a brief pause on Monday as stretched AI valuations and a renewal in conflict in West Asia made investors cautious.
Broader Asian indices saw weakness in trade as the US and Iran exchanged fire over a downed US Apache helicopter. US President Trump vowed a proportionate response to the Iranian misadventure.
The US military said that it targeted military air defence, ground control stations and surveillance radar sites in Iran.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards carried out strikes in Jordan on a US base and 21 other targets in the Gulf in retaliation for the American attack, Reuters reported.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific index ex-Japan dropped about 3 per cent while Japan's Nikkei and Korea's Kospi fell 2 per cent and 7 per cent each. Some of the top tech names, like Japan's Softbank and Korea's Samsung and SK Hynix saw selling pressure after a rebound on Tuesday.
Memory chip maker SK Hynix plunged over 8%, while Samsung Electronics fell 7.45%. Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, dropped about 2%, while Apple supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry, more commonly known as Foxconn, fell more than 4%.
Stretched valuations, along with a slew of IPOs from AI biggies like SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI, could have resulted in investors parking their capital safely for these bets.
The US stocks came under pressure on Tuesday on fears of a renewed conflict driving up energy prices and fading hopes of a Federal Reserve rate cut this year, especially after a strong jobs report for May.
Oil prices rose slightly, responding to the renewed tensions in West Asia, though prices were mostly controlled as fears of a wider conflict disrupting supply remained subdued.
The CPI inflation data to be released on Wednesday will be keenly watched ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting on June 16-17 to decide the rate action. A rise in inflation will make it harder for the Fed to remain silent, even as experts are pricing in a 25 bps rate hike this year. (ANI)
