London (AFP) – Most stock markets bounced Friday after worries about the AI boom sparked heavy selling in recent sessions. Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh remarked that the technology offered huge benefits to the global economy. The Seoul and Tokyo indices closed out the week with healthy gains, boosted by chipmakers SK hynix and Kioxia, after they were pummelled Thursday as investors bailed out of the artificial intelligence sector. European stock markets, which feature far fewer tech giants compared with their Asian and US peers, rose in midday deals.
“The strings have been pulled back to the AI trade after a big player helped calm nerves about whether the mega spending spree on the infrastructure build-out will reap enough rewards,” said Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club. Nvidia chief Jensen Huang, who brings the tech world to attention whenever he has a mic, has justified his company’s investment in cloud infrastructure provider CoreWeave, stating that its situation was improving. Markets had been spooked by concerns about CoreWeave’s huge debt pile. The New Jersey firm, which has borrowed heavily to finance hefty purchases of pricey semiconductor chips from Nvidia, saw its market value tank 15.5 percent Wednesday as yields on some of its bonds soared, reflecting heightened angst over its future.
That added to concerns about the massive AI spending, largely fuelled by debt. However, Huang lifted spirits Thursday by defending the company and its health. CoreWeave’s shares climbed almost six percent in response. Further stoking the gains was Warsh’s speech at the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, where the Fed chief stated that AI was the “most consequential change” to the global economy in his lifetime. He noted that the AI investment boom would drive prices up in the short term, but “there really is, I think, a huge benefit to the global economy, to the US economy over the horizon.”
However, he added: “The path from where we are to there is likely to be a very bumpy one, bumpy in our understanding of the technology, bumpy because we really don’t know what the market structure is going to be of these new technologies.” Elsewhere, the Jakarta stock market tanked more than 11 percent, marking its heaviest loss since 1998, after index compiler MSCI stated it was “no longer appropriate” to maintain Indonesia’s emerging-market status, fuelling fears of an exodus of foreign investment.
– Key figures at around 1100 GMT –
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 10,849.95 points
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 7,967.05
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.0 percent at 25,640.45
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.4 percent to 65,324.29 (close)
Seoul – Kospi: UP 2.1 percent to 5,668.05 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent to 24,186.83 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent to 3,716.28 (close)
New York – Dow: UP 1.1 percent at 52,177.69 (close)
Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.3 percent at $106.19 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.4 percent at $97.62 per barrel
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1257 from $1.1213 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3337 from $1.3274
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 157.92 yen from 158.12 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.40 pence from 84.47 pence.
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© 2024 AFP
