Technology shares have been hit by a global wave of selling, with South Korea’s benchmark index suffering its sharpest decline among major markets and losses spreading to US-listed chip and artificial intelligence companies.
The tech-heavy KOSPI fell 7.57% and briefly triggered a trading halt. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 4.90%, while China’s CSI 300 lost 1.23%. India’s Nifty 50 moved in the opposite direction, rising 1.68%.
Nasdaq futures were down 1.03%, suggesting further pressure when New York markets opened. The S&P 500 had already fallen 1.11% in the previous session and futures were down a further 0.24%.
Tech sell-off spreads across global markets
Shares in cloud computing company CoreWeave fell 15.46% before losing another 5.89% in overnight trading. Oracle dropped 8.83%, followed by a further 1.57% decline after the market closed, while chipmakers also recorded broad losses.
The retreat came despite several positive developments for the technology sector. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company reported third-quarter earnings above expectations and said its capital spending would increase over the next two years.
Apple shares closed at a record high, making it only the second company after Nvidia to reach a market value of $5 trillion. Anthropic also reported adjusted profitability, although its third-quarter revenue of $17 billion appeared to indicate slower growth than previously estimated.
The market turmoil extended to US government bonds. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note climbed as high as 5.32% before falling back to 5.08%, an unusually large move for an asset normally regarded as relatively steady.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 was down 0.10% in early trading, while the FTSE 100 was up 0.48% before lunch. Brent crude was trading at $106 a barrel and bitcoin fell to $81,265.
