Sawt Falasteen - Stocks fall as tech valuation fears stoke volatility

Risk aversion also spilt into Bitcoin, which slumped toward $70,000 and is now down more than 40 percent from its record high above $126,000 in October.

In Europe, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank both kept benchmark interest rates on hold as expected, as inflation pressures ease.

The euro was little changed but the British pound slid as Prime Minister Keir Starmer fights for his political life due to a storm of protest at his appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States, despite knowing about his close ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

On equity markets, investor caution remains high after Anthropic, which created the AI chatbot Claude, unveiled a tool that could be used by firms to carry out legal work.

Its announcement Tuesday hit firms across the software, financial services and asset management industries, though analysts noted there had already been a general shift out of tech following years of eye-watering gains.

Financial updates from Alphabet, ARM and Microsoft have fuelled that move, as questions are raised about the wisdom of pumping hundreds of billions into artificial intelligence projects with little idea about the timing of returns.

Fiona Cincotta, an analyst at City Index, said that "while losses in tech continue, sentiment remains fragile".

Silver prices tanked almost 11 percent Thursday as a sell-off in precious metals resumed after a brief spell of calm following massive selling when records were reached last week.

Gold, traditionally seen as a safe haven, lost 1.8 percent.

Oil prices dropped after Iran and the United States said nuclear talks would go ahead in Oman this week.

The news soothed investor concerns sparked by a report Wednesday that the bitter foes would not meet owing to a row about the format and the venue, which sent the price of both main contracts up more than three percent.

- Key figures at around 1445 GMT -

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.4 percent at 49,282.98 points

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.5 percent at 6,845.95

New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 0.6 percent at 22,776.96

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.4 percent at 10,359.27

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.4 percent at 8,231.58

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.6 percent at 24,445.00

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.9 percent at 53,818.04 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.1 percent at 26,885.24 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.6 percent at 4,075.92 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1814 from $1.1802 on Wednesday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.35971 from $1.3648

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 156.80 yen from 156.92 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 87.04 pence from 86.47 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.6 percent at $67.64 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.6 percent at $63.42 per barrel

S.Abdullah--SF-PST