TOKYO, Nov 4: Global shares retreated on Tuesday despite the big lift in overseas markets from optimism over artificial intelligence technology, as traders sold shares to lock in recent profits.
France’s CAC 40 lost 1.3 per cent in early trading to 8,007.48, while Germany’s DAX dipped 1.5 per cent to 23,780.93. Britain’s FTSE 100 slid 0.8 per cent to 9,624.57. US shares were set to drift lower with Dow futures down 0.8 per cent at 47,112.00. S&P 500 futures lost nearly 1.0 per cent to 6,816.50.
In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped 1.7 per cent to finish at 51,497.20 following a national holiday on Monday.
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“Japan market continues to pivot from mean reversion to momentum, with AI/semis driving gains through steep valuation rerating,” said Shrikant Kale, strategist at Jefferies Hong Kong.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.9 per cent to 8,813.70. South Korea’s Kospi dipped 2.4 per cent to 4,121.74, reversing after a rally took it to record highs in recent days.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng erased earlier gains to fall 0.8 per cent to 25,952.40, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.4 per cent to 3,960.19.
Gains for Nvidia, Amazon and other AI superstars have been pronounced lately on Wall Street. But companies across the US stock market will need to hit expectations for growth in profit to justify the big gains for their stock prices since April.
Criticism has been rising that the broad US market, and AI stocks in particular, have become too expensive and could be inflating into a dangerous bubble similar to the 2000 dot-com bust.
For the most part, companies have been meeting the high expectations for profits. Four out of every five companies in the S&P 500 have topped analysts’ forecasts so far this reporting season, according to FactSet.
In other dealings early Tuesday, US benchmark crude fell 63 cents to USD 60.42 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, declined 67 cents to USD 64.22 a barrel.
The US dollar slipped to 153.61 Japanese yen from 154.21 yen. The euro cost USD 1.1524, inching down from USD 1.1525. (AP)
