Sawt Falasteen - Asian stocks take another hit from AI, Mideast worries

After leading several markets to record highs this year, technology firms are facing selling pressure on concerns that the eye-watering sums pumped into artificial intelligence may have been overdone and stock valuations are too high.

Broadcom on Wednesday sparked concern among traders who have piled into all things AI when its revenue forecast for the third quarter came in below expectations, sparking a sell-off in Wall Street's Nasdaq as dealers took profits and rotated into other sectors.

And the losses have bled through to Asia, where tech-heavy Seoul and Tokyo -- which have led the region's surge this year -- sank from record highs.

South Korean stocks tanked almost seven percent at one point Friday, having dropped 1.8 percent the day before. The Nikkei in Tokyo was off more than one percent, matching Thursday's retreat.

The losses come as investors contemplate a coming IPO by Elon Musk's SpaceX, which is aiming to raise $75 billion in the biggest initial public offering ever. The company said in a regulatory filing that it would offer more than 550 million shares at $135 each next week, which could value the company at $1.8 trillion.

There were also losses in Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore and Taipei, though Shanghai, Wellington and Manila edged up.

Jakarta extended losses amid building fears about the state of the Indonesian economy and the rupiah, which have been hammered by surging oil prices.

"Broadcom's revenue miss sparked profit-taking across the semiconductor sector and gave investors a reason to pause after the recent AI-driven rally," said City Index's Fiona Cincotta.

"Broadcom's results suggest investor expectations may have run ahead of fundamentals."

The latest AI wobble came as investors grew nervous about grinding efforts to end the Middle East crisis.

The head of militant group Hezbollah on Thursday rejected a conditional truce announced by Lebanon and Israel, demanding a comprehensive ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal from its northern neighbour.

Naim Qassem's message came after the two sides agreed to a conditional ceasefire that Lebanon's president called the "last chance" for a durable end to the fighting.

Talks between Iran and the United States also appeared to be going nowhere, with Iran reporting "no tangible progress", even as President Donald Trump again voiced optimism, telling reporters a deal "could happen... over the weekend".

Still, oil prices held their recent losses amid lingering optimism a deal will be struck and the Strait of Hormuz -- through which a fifth of global oil usually passes -- will reopen.

Official US jobs data due later in the day are also in focus following forecast-topping private data that indicated the economy remained healthy and fanned bets on the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates.

- Key figures at around 0230 GMT -

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.1 percent at $93.16 a barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.5 percent at $95.47 a barrel

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.2 percent at 66,661.47 (break)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.4 percent at 25,155.38

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 4,067.78

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1615 from $1.1610 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3427 from $1.3423

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 159.95 yen from 160.03 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 86.51 pence from 86.50 pence

New York - DOW: UP 1.7 percent at 51,561.93 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 10,360.32 (close)

S.Abdullah--SF-PST