Asia stock markets track losses on Wall Street as AI fears hit sentiment

Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly lower on Friday as fears about AI disruption followed declines on Wall Street. S&P 500 It entered its third consecutive losing day.

This year, segments of the U.S. stock market have been hit by the introduction of artificial intelligence tools that threaten to automate tasks performed by some companies or at least risk eating into their profit margins.

Shares of many trucking and logistics companies have fallen on fears that new AI tools could reduce major shipping inefficiencies and lead to reduced demand for the industry’s services.

Software stocks such as Palantir Technologies and Autodesk have also lost value in recent weeks due to disruption concerns.

Real estate and financial stocks also suffered losses as commercial real estate brokerages extended losses for a second day in a row.

Investors in Asia were watching for any spillover effects. Taiwan, one of the most prominent markets in the field of artificial intelligence, was closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

of japan Nikkei 225 It lost 0.72% after briefly touching 58,000 on Thursday. Topix lost 0.92%. Both indexes were dragged by energy stocks.

South Korea’s kospi The only major index in the positive zone gained 0.31%, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 1.75%.

of hong kong Hang Seng Index It decreased by 1.69% due to the impact of basic material stocks, while CSI 300 lost 0.51%.

Hong Kong-listed Zhipu AI, which trades under the trade name Information Atlas Technology, extended its rally 16% on Friday after a near 30% rise on Thursday, adding to investor excitement around its newly released open-source GLM-5 model.

MiniMax also rose over 11%, extending gains from its last session, as momentum around the updated M2.5 model and advanced AI brokerage tools continued to fuel buying interest.

Beijing Haizhi Technology Group shares are up more than 260% following its $97 million IPO.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index lost 1.32%.