BENGALURU: Asian stocks slipped on Friday to their lowest point in two weeks, as Apple’s price hikes soured tech sentiment, triggering a selloff in South Korea and Taiwan and raising fresh doubts about the durability of the AI-driven rally.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Asia gauge fell nearly 4 percent, hitting its lowest point since June 12. For the week, the index has lost more than 5 percent so far, on track for its worst since the first week of the Middle East conflict.
South Korea’s KOSPI closed nearly 6 percent lower on Friday, and logged a 7.1 percent weekly loss, its biggest weekly fall since early March.
Apple raised iPad and MacBook prices on Thursday, citing surging memory and storage chip costs from the AI-driven data center boom, a move that unsettled tech-heavy markets in South Korea and Taiwan, which rely on stable component prices.
Taiwan shares fell as much as 3.9 percent to their lowest level since June 15, putting the market on track for its worst weekly performance since early March.
Across Southeast Asia, Singapore stocks fell 0.6 percent, while those in the Philippines traded 0.4 percent lower.
Stocks in Jakarta shed nearly 3 percent, tracking their sixth decline in eight sessions.
The index has lost 5.5 percent so far this week, set to snap a two-week gaining streak.
Regional currencies also weakened on Friday, pressured by expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates elevated and by a broadly stable US dollar.
The dollar inched lower but remained on track for its first back-to-back weekly gain since the start of the Middle East conflict on February 28.
The Thai baht dipped as much as 0.5 percent, hitting its lowest level since May, and was on track for a seventh decline in eight sessions.
Diverging monetary policy paths have kept the baht under pressure, as the Bank of Thailand’s steady stance differs from the expectations of higher US rates, widening yield differentials in favour of the dollar.
“The widening interest rate differential is a key catalyst, and the Baht’s continuous decline in recent days also happen to echo the timing of FOMC’s release of rate projections,” Yin added.
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