The China Mail - Tech share selloff rolls on, oil prices climb on Mideast clashes

With semiconductor companies the worst hit in the selloff, Nvidia briefly lost its crown to Apple as the world's most valuable publicly traded company.

Oil prices rallied, with international benchmark Brent North Sea crude powering above $86 a barrel, as the United States and Iran traded fresh attacks.

"The technology selloff is not the only reason markets are in a sour mood," noted Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote bank.

"Developments in the Middle East are getting worse by the hour."

Trade Nation analyst David Morrison said: "The ongoing conflict, combined with threats to major shipping routes such as the Strait of Hormuz and potentially the Red Sea, has increased uncertainty across global financial markets."

Asian and European stock markets also took their cue from Wall Street's finish on Thursday, where sharp falls in Nvidia and Amazon helped drag down the Nasdaq by more than one percent.

The Nasdaq's slide intensified on Friday, with Netflix shares tumbling more than eight percent as the streaming giant warned of slowing sales growth.

Shares in Nvidia also took a hit, sending the company's valuation down to $4.8 trillion, below the $4.9 trillion for Apple

In October last year the company became the first to hit $5 trillion in market capitalisation.

Nvidia has become the signature stock for the AI revolution triggered by the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, with its powerful processors core to the technology.

In recent weeks, some doubts have cracked the AI bonanza narrative, with analysts wondering if the huge investments in Nvidia's chips and software can be recovered through the adoption of the new AI products being released to the public.

Nvidia's shares are now down more than 13 percent from the all-time high they struck two months ago.

With South Korea enjoying a holiday on Friday, Tokyo and Taipei -- also heavily weighted toward tech -- were at the forefront of Asia's latest selling heading into the weekend.

Japan's Nikkei ended the day down four percent with shares in semiconductor tester Advantest, Tokyo Electron and tech investment titan SoftBank each sliding more than seven percent.

Chipmaker Kioxia collapsed 16 percent, meaning it has lost around half its value since briefly becoming Japan's biggest firm by market capitalisation last month.

Taiwan's Taiex index had shed 6.5 percent by the close Friday, as chipmaker TSMC retreated more than seven percent -- a day after announcing record second-quarter profit and that it would invest a further $100 billion in the US state of Arizona.

The losses come as companies have begun to report second quarter earnings.

"While earnings and demand trends remain strong, recent profit-taking suggests some market participants are questioning how long the current pace of growth can continue," said Trade Nation's Morrison.

Europe's main stock markets closed mostly lower. London rose thanks to its share listings of energy giants, which climbed on rising oil prices.

- Key figures around 1530 GMT -

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 2.3 percent at $86.15 a barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.4 percent at $80.16 a barrel

New York - Dow: FLAT at 52,539.47 points

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.7 percent at 7,482.75

New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.4 percent at 25,527.94

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 10,600.37 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.5 percent at 8,338.81 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.3 percent at 24,830.98 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 4.0 percent at 64,141.12 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 2.1 percent at 24,505.38 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 3.0 percent at 3,764.15 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1443 from $1.1436 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3454 from $1.3468

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 162.37 yen from 162.42 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 85.05 pence from 84.91 pence

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