Pedestrians walk past an electronic quotation board displaying the Nikkei 225 stock prices on the Tokyo Stock Exchange along a street in Tokyo on June 25, 2026. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
London: Stock markets retreated Friday, capping a rollercoaster week for technology shares as doubts spread about the huge AI-fuelled gains for technology stocks that have propelled indexes to record territory.
Oil prices meanwhile sank more than three percent as fears eased after an attack on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
The cargo ship, reported by US media to have been hit by Iran, resumed its transit through the strait with the crew, vessel and cargo "unharmed", according to Taiwanese shipping operator Evergreen Marine.
"The attack has rattled the fragile confidence of shipowners and crews, though ships continued to transit through the narrow corridor on Friday," said DNB Carnegie analysts.
Tech stocks came under renewed pressure after Apple announced price hikes on laptops, tablets and other products, citing spiralling memory and storage costs sparked by the rise of AI.
That was followed by Microsoft announcing price hikes for its popular Xbox gaming consoles, also citing an AI-fuelled surge in component costs.
The announcements dampened sentiment that had been boosted the previous day by forecast-busting results from US chip giant Micron.
European stocks were lower, with Frankfurt shedding more than one percent in midday deals, following sharp losses across Asian markets.
South Korea's Kospi closed down almost six percent, a rout that sparked a 20-minute trading halt, after a volatile week for chip giant and market heavyweight SK hynix, whose share price shed more than eight percent Friday.
Tokyo, also heavy with tech firms, fell more than four percent, with tech investment giant SoftBank plunging over 12 percent as The New York Times reported that ChatGPT-maker OpenAI is considering holding off on an initial public share offering.
"News that OpenAI would delay its IPO until next year, over fears it would not attract enough interest to give it a $1 trillion listing, has also weighed on the market
mood on Friday," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading group.
The tech sector has been the main driver of a surge to record highs across several markets globally amid an eye-watering boom in all things AI.
However, that euphoria appears to be waning on worries that company valuations look stretched, amid questions about when firms will see a return on the trillions of dollars that has been invested.
"Investors are taking their time and picking winners in the AI trade, while discarding others," Brooks said.
The losses came even as investors pared expectations for US interest rate hikes after data showed the Federal Reserve's favoured gauge of inflation came in slightly lower than expected in May.
Thursday's reading hit the dollar heading into the weekend pause, before recovering on Friday.
