Oil prices continue to rise as the Mideast war intensifies.
Image: AFP
Tokyo and Taipei stock markets led a fresh selloff for technology shares on Friday, as concerns that the sector had been overbought in recent months intensified.
Oil prices rallied, with international benchmark Brent North Sea crude powering above $85 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."
The United States and Iran traded attacks on Friday, with Tehran targeting American assets across the Middle East in the biggest escalation since the two foes returned to outright war.
A month after the two sides agreed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict that began in February, Iran accused US forces of hitting civilian and energy infrastructure on Friday including an airport, a railway station and two bridges, with state media reporting at least eight dead and 20 wounded in overnight attacks.
It signalled an apparent expansion of American strikes with a focus on Iranian infrastructure, which US President Donald Trump has previously threatened to hit, but there was no immediate comment from US officials.
Asian and European stock markets took their cue from Wall Street, where sharp falls in Nvidia and Amazon helped drag down the Nasdaq by more than one percent Thursday.
Netflix meanwhile plunged more than nine percent in after-hours trading as it warned of a second quarter of slowing sales growth.
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 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.
There were steep losses also in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney, though Bangkok, Manila and Mumbai rose.
Europe's main stock markets were all in the red, though London held up reasonably well as the UK prepared for its new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham.
Shares in British energy giants Shell and BP climbed thanks to rising oil prices but luxury fashion brand Burberry slid more than five percent as investors felt its latest trading update did not show enough improvement.
"Burberry looked primed to strut its stuff based on one of its best quarters in years, but a cautious outlook and weak showing in certain markets saw the shares trip up," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
AFP