More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

---

Equity Alert: Asian markets lower tracking tech sell-off on Wall Street

 

MUMBAI--0826 IST--Equity indices in Asia were largely lower in early session, tracking their US counterparts amid a sell-off in technology stocks. The KOSPI could not insulate itself against the weakness seen by the tech sector for this session and was trading nearly 3% lower, while also leading the losses in the region. This comes after the recent sell-off in technology stocks as investors are concerned over the disruption of artificial intelligence on software companies. The sell-off was triggered after AI developer Anthropic launched plug-in for its 'Claude Cowork', which automates tasks across legal sales, marketing, and data analytics. 

 

Disappointing earnings forecast for the March quarter from Advanced Micro Devices didn't help matters, with the stock plunging 17% in the US. In South Korea, fall in shares of chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix, down nearly 5?ch, along with those of Hanwha Aerospace Co. falling over 5%, weighed on the KOSPI index. The index fell below 5300 points after closing above the level for the first time during the previous session, The Chosun Daily reported. "This is analysed to be influenced by the underperformance of U.S. semiconductor-related stocks, as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 4.36% on the New York stock market overnight," the South Korean publication said. 

 

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index extended losses for its second session. Shares of SoftBank Group Corp. were down over 6% during the session after its chip designer company Arm Holdings' December quarter licencing sales missed estimates. However, shares of Panasonic were up over 9?spite the company reporting worse-than-estimated results for its net profit and revenue for the December quarter, CNBC reported. Its adjusted net profit did increase to 159.10 billion yen or $1.03 billion, rising nearly 6% from the year-ago quarter. The adjusted operating profit excludes restructuring costs of 129.30 billion yen or $824.29 million. The TOPIX First Section index was also seen lower after touching a fresh high during the session.

 

Following are the levels of key Asian indices at 0824 IST:

 

INDEX	LEVEL	CHANGE IN %
CSI 300 Index	4660.30	(-)0.82
Hang Seng Index	26622.25	(-)0.84
KOSPI	5211.66	(-)2.97
Nikkei 225 Day	53898.35	(-)0.73
TOPIX FIRST SECTION	3651.67	(-)0.11
FTSE Singapore Straits Times	4955.07	(-)0.21
S&P/ASX 200 Index	8900.60	(-)0.30
IDX Composite	8176.86	0.37

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

 

 

---

Equity Alert: US Indices end largely lower, tech stocks weigh on markets

 

MUMBAI--0745 IST--Major US equity indices ended lower on Wednesday, barring the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Shares of some software companies continued to face pressure, extending losses from the previous trading session along with artificial intelligence-affiliated stocks, as Wall Street questions whether the rally in AI has reached its summit. 

 

Shares of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, fell over 2% ahead of the company's quarterly results after the session closed. The company beat expectations of its December quarter results, earning revenue of $113.83 billion, up 18% on year, against an estimate of $111.43 billion by LSEG, CNBC reported. The company said it expects capital expenditure of $175 billion to $185 billion in 2026, with the top end of the forecast being double the capital expenditure in 2025. The company's expenditure plans will be made towards its AI compute capacity for Google DeepMind to meet a high cloud customer demand as well as strategic investments in other areas, Anat Ashkenazi, finance chief of Alphabet, was reported as saying. The capital expenditure will be used to "improve the user experience and drive higher advertiser ROI (Return-on-investment) in Google services," she added. The finance chief of the company also said the advertising results were negatively affected due to the lapping of the high expenditure on the US elections for the December quarter of 2024.

 

Advanced Micro devices fell over 17?ter the company's revenue forecast for the next quarter disappointed investors, with the company suggesting it was having a tough time competing against NVIDIA, Reuters reported. However, the company beat expectations for its December quarter results with its revenue coming in at $10.27 billion against an estimate of $9.67 billion by LSEG, CNBC reported. For the next quarter, the company said it expects revenue of $9.8 billion, give or take $300 million, against expectations of $9.38 billion. Even this, however, disappointed some analysts who were expecting stronger guidance as customers continue to ramp-up spending on chips to power AI models, CNBC said.

 

Shares of Palantir fell nearly 12?ter the sharp rise in the previous session on the back of strong quarterly numbers. "The size of the infrastructure buildout is unprecedented, and the pace of consumers and businesses adopting AI tools is also unprecedented. The stock market is having a really hard knowing where to price the stocks and what the future looks like. ... The market is suddenly sceptical and concerned about it," Jed Ellerbroek, a portfolio manager at Argent Capital in St. Louis, was reported as saying by Reuters. 

 

Shares of a few software companies such as Oracle and Crowd Strike, down over 5% and 1.5%, respectively, extended their losses from the previous session. Despite the weakness seen in the sector, shares of Microsoft found some stability as the stock ended nearly 1% higher. "If you've got legacy software that's old and clunky, you're a ripe target for AI. We're a bit bearish on software in general, with the whole impetus of AI," Josh Chastant, portfolio manager, public investments at GuideStone Funds, was reported as saying by Reuters.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Wednesday:  

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6882.72	(-)0.51
NASDAQ Composite	55904.58	(-)1.51
Dow Jones Industrial Average	49501.30	0.53

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

US$1 = INR 90.44

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

NSE: National Stock Exchange
NYSE: New York Stock Exchange
NYMEX: New York Mercantile Exchange
SEBI: Securities and Exchange Board of India
RBI: Reserve Bank of India

Internet links:
Securities and Exchange Board of India - http://www.sebi.gov.in
Bombay Stock Exchange - http://www.bseindia.com
National Stock Exchange of India - http://www.nseindia.com
Directory of Indian government websites - http://goidirectory.nic.in
Indian Ministry of Finance - http://www.finmin.nic.in
Reserve Bank of India - http://rbi.org.in
Controller General of Accounts, Government of India - http://www.cga.nic.in
Government's Press Information Bureau - http://www.pib.nic.in

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.