Asian equities opened mixed on Monday October 26, as investors seemed to weigh a fresh bout of AI-linked selling against a heavy slate of earnings and central bank meetings in the region.
MSCI’s Asia Pacific index slipped 0.2% as the week began while the Hang Seng futures barely moved. In South Korea, the Kospi lost 0.21%, while in Japan the Nikkei 225 added 0.23% and the broader Topix climbed 0.65%.
In India, the GIFT Nifty which indicates how the country’s stock market would commence trading for the day, predicted a muted start in the red.
In currencies, the Japanese yen held at 156.94 per dollar and the offshore yuan at 6.6686.
US equity futures gave up their early gains and hovered around flat. SK Hynix shares also ticked up after a report said the chipmaker intended to hand shareholders roughly 80% of the proceeds from selling a key part of its Kioxia stake through a special dividend.
The subdued start follows a rough Friday on Wall Street, where AI-related stocks buckled and a closely watched US chip index extended its losing run to the longest since November.
The slide dragged the regional benchmark down more than 6% this month. It has also revived the question that investors seemed to have asked all year which is whether profits justify the huge sums companies were pouring into the AI domain. The recent chip sell-off has also pushed money into bonds, which raises the pressure on AI spending to deliver returns.
Earnings will further test that confidence this week as Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon report, and Asia enters its busiest reporting period, with about 550 of the 1,200 or so companies in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index are set to publish results, according to Bloomberg data.
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SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, both of which are major players in the AI boom, are among them. If AI loses further momentum, investors would have to look towards consumer demand and other areas of the economy for growth.
The US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the euro zone’s central bank are all expected to hold rates, with the Fed meeting over three days from Wednesday. The Fed lifted rates in September for the first time since 2023 and signalled another rise this year.
Oil meanwhile offered some relief as Brent crude fell about 1% from a six-month high to around $115.35 a barrel in early Asian trade, while West Texas Intermediate dropped 1.1% to $102.10.
Even so, West Asia continues to keep traders on edge. US President Donald Trump said it was “getting to be decision time” on whether to strike a deal with Tehran or resume attacks, as threats from Iran and the Houthis against Americans in the region grow.
Washington is cutting diplomatic and military staffing in parts of the Middle East, and the Houthis have repeatedly targeted Riyadh airport, which reopened to commercial flights on Sunday.
Trump has suggested strikes on Iran could resume after the November 3 midterm elections, and officials have warned that the gap between the vote and the new Congress taking office could prove especially dangerous.
With Bloomberg Inputs