BENGALURU: South Korean stocks posted their sharpest weekly decline in more than eight months on Friday, while Taiwanese shares logged their worst week in nearly three months, as investors grew concerned about the sustainability of the AI-driven rally in tech stocks.
South Korea’s KOSPI stock index, one of the standout performers this year, closed 1.8 percent lower after a more than 3 percent drop in intraday trade. It logged a 3.7 percent weekly loss, its steepest since late-February.
Taiwan stocks fell 1 percent, declining 2.1 percent for the week after a 10-week winning streak. The benchmark stock index had surged 9.3 percent in October, driven by an AI-fuelled rush into tech equities.
Markets swung sharply this week as mixed signals from US Federal Reserve officials left investors guessing about its policy outlook and fresh worries over tech valuations and warnings from Wall Street triggered a shake-up in AI-heavy equity markets.
Those concerns raised questions whether the rally built on hopes of imminent Fed easing and AI-fuelled growth may have run ahead of itself, and whether the tech industry’s vast spending will ultimately justify the hype.
Markets are cautious after the US tech pullback driven by the OpenAI-linked selloff and renewed uncertainty around AI valuations, with mixed US labour data and hawkish Fed comments adding to the unease, said Billy Leung, investment strategist at Global X ETFs Australia.
The MSCI index of emerging Asia equities and a broader gauge of Asian shares outside Japan both fell about 1 percent and were on pace for their worst weekly performance since early August.
Philippine equities fell nearly 2 percent to their lowest since early October 2022, after data showed third-quarter economic growth came in weaker than expected.
“GDP data added to expectations that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas may still need to remain on easing bias, especially against a subdued inflationary pressure,” said Christopher Wong, FX and rates strategist at OCBC.
Indonesian stocks rose 0.5 percent to a fresh high. The benchmark stock index has fared better than its peers throughout the week and has gained 2.6 percent so far.
Asian currencies were largely mixed against a dollar index that edged higher.
The South Korean won lost 0.6 percent, hitting its weakest since April 10. The Malaysian ringgit rose 0.3 percent to its highest in 13 months, a day after its central bank kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged.
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