Patchy trading defined Asian equity markets on Friday, with chipmaker shares pulling back on doubts about OpenAI's revenue trajectory, while a climb in crude prices and turbulence in bond markets left buyers cautious.
On Thursday, the Nasdaq Composite posted a 1.3% decline as technology and semiconductor stocks gave back ground, a development that contributed to the mixed performance seen across other markets. Wall Street futures ticked upward in the opening stretch of Asian market hours.
The Nikkei 225 shed around half a percentage point on the session, whereas the broader TOPIX index held close to flat. Shares in SoftBank Group, which holds a stake in OpenAI, lost around 5% of their value as investors weighed questions over whether bets on artificial intelligence would deliver adequate returns. Kioxia shed 4% of its value, while Murata — which makes electronic components — posted a steeper retreat of 5.3%, adding to the broader pressure on semiconductor-linked stocks.
Figures from a reputable broadcaster placed OpenAI's annualised revenue at roughly $20 billion below what prior projections had suggested, a discrepancy that analysts pointed to as a contributing factor in the market retreat that unfolded afterward. Questions about whether the pace of AI revenue expansion could keep pace with the capital being poured into advanced chips, data centres, and computing infrastructure surfaced after the disclosure.
Both the Shanghai Composite and the CSI 300 posted losses on the session, giving back 1.2% and 1.3% respectively as mainland Chinese markets joined the broader downturn. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged up 0.9% on the day, even as chipmakers weighed on the broader market. Shares in SMIC edged down 2.2%, while Hua Hong Semiconductor posted a steeper retreat of close to 5%.
Public holidays kept both the South Korean and Taiwanese exchanges closed, leaving no floor trading to take place in either market. Trading in the Asia-Pacific region saw Australia's S&P/ASX 200 post a rise of around 0.6%, with India's Nifty 50 adding 0.4% over the same period. A half-percentage-point retreat left the Straits Times Index lower by the close.
Nvidia-backed Firmus had been weighing a public listing valued at around $5 billion before market volatility prompted the data centre operator to pursue private funding instead.
Persistently high energy costs kept up their strain on financial markets around the world. On Thursday, Brent crude climbed past the $103-per-barrel mark — a gain of more than 4% — as armed conflict in the Middle East raised the prospect of disrupted oil flows and added to existing pressure on consumer prices. Trading was subdued on Friday as crude prices eased back from recent levels, with buyers and sellers alike keeping positions cautious while unresolved tensions in global flashpoints left the direction of the market unclear.
Trump signalled that any military action against Iran would be held off until after the November midterm elections had passed.
Bond market volatility had yet to fully recede, leaving an atmosphere of financial uncertainty that investors and analysts were still navigating. Yields on the 10-year Treasury note pulled back toward 5.23%, having touched their highest point in roughly two and a half decades earlier that week. Borrowing costs that held at elevated levels kept weighing on the valuations of technology stocks and drove up the funding burden for firms channelling capital into AI infrastructure, even as rates eased somewhat.
