Seoul Gazette - Tech in focus as stock markets retreat; oil surges

Ahead of the Wall Street open, Google revealed that "multiple" Cloud services provided by the US tech giant were experiencing serious network disruptions at its European data centre based in London, affecting in particular UK banks.

Adding to the unrest, oil prices surged on increased fears of supply disruptions heading into the northern hemisphere winter.

The main US crude contract, West Texas Intermediate, was up more than five percent.

"Last night's tech recovery on Wall Street didn't carry over into Asian markets with AI-related names in the region facing renewed pressure on their share prices," noted AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

"European markets endured a sluggish start against this volatile backdrop, with oil prices... back above $110 per barrel, the highest level since May", also owing to Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries.

The Seoul and Tokyo stock markets again bore the brunt of the selling as chip giants SK hynix, Samsung and Kioxia took another beating owing to a sharp exit from a sector that saw blistering gains in the first half of the year.

Since June's record highs, traders have been questioning elevated valuations and when companies would see returns -- if any -- on the colossal sums they have spent to move ahead in the artificial intelligence race.

Unease over some firms' debt levels has also started to raise eyebrows as interest rates around the world rise, putting pressure on their finances.

South Korea's Kospi stocks index sank nearly four percent, with SK hynix off 4.2 percent. Samsung's share price shed three percent.

Data-centre infrastructure firm Elice collapsed more than 30 percent on its trading debut as it was hammered by the AI fear.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo dropped more than one percent as Kioxia shed more than four percent and tech investor SoftBank plunged six percent.

Focus is on the release of tech-sector earnings results, with US giants Meta and Tesla due to update markets this week.

The euro held steady against the dollar but remained under pressure as France and Italy were rocked by violent cost-of-living protests that have raised concerns about their economies and pushed up government bond yields.

The yield on France's 10-year government bond rose to 4.94 percent Tuesday, more than 150 basis points above the comparable German government bond, considered the European benchmark of creditworthiness.

The resulting spread between the two yields is the highest since the closing levels of January 2012, when the eurozone was in the midst of a credit crisis that required market interventions by the European Central Bank to keep borrowing costs from spiralling.

- Key figures at around 1100 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.6 percent at 10,703.71 points

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.8 percent at 7,804.82

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.8 percent at 25,125.03

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.3 percent at 64,075.52 (close)

Seoul - Kospi: DOWN 3.7 percent at 5,552.74 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 23,867.74 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,735.37 (close)

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.1 percent at 51,966.03 (close)

West Texas Intermediate: UP 5.2 percent at $109.08 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: UP 1.6 percent at $111.30 per barrel

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1209 from $1.1211 on Monday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3339 from $1.3304

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 158.15 yen from 158.55 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.03 pence from 84.27 pence

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K.Im--SG