Global stocks slipped on Friday after Apple price hikes fuelled wider concerns over the inflationary impact of spending by tech giants, while oil prices dropped towards their lowest in four months despite difficulties reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Apple said on Thursday it could no longer shield customers from soaring memory and storage chip costs, and while its shares were steadier in premarket trading on Friday, that came after Thursday’s 6 per cent fall. A media report that OpenAI was considering delaying its IPO until next year also dampened the stock market mood.
European stocks were down nearly 1 per cent, with a near 2 per cent, fall in tech while Wall Street futures pointed to falls of 0.5 per cent, to 1.1 per cent.
Steep declines in Asia were led by tech stocks, with MSCI’s index of Asian stocks outside Japan down 3 per cent.
South Korea’s Kospi was down as much as 9 per cent at one point, triggering a circuit breaker.
On the Wall Street, all three indices were trading higher in choppy trading as gains in healthcare and consumer discretionary stocks offset losses in industrials, technology and energy.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, however, were on track for a weekly loss while the Dow was headed for a weekly gain. Chip stocks were down 4.5 per cent and were set to shed 7 per cent for the week, the largest weekly decline since March.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.31 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.28 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.24 per cent.
“It’s a combination of a needed and healthy period of consolidation following the historic run since March and a dramatic rotation from tech and everything else,” said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist.
Oil set for big weekly losses
Crude prices plunged by about 3 per cent on Friday, on course for steep weekly losses, as more oil tankers exited the Strait of Hormuz, easing supply concerns, even though a cargo vessel was hit near Oman on Thursday. Brent crude futures fell $2.42, or 3.2 per cent, to $72.84 a barrel by 1323 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate lost $1.97, or 2.7 per cent to $69.95.
Gold gains as dollar weakens
Gold edged higher on Friday as the dollar weakened and expectations of US interest rate hikes eased slightly following inflation data, though prices were still on track for a fourth consecutive weekly decline.
Spot gold was up 0.51 per cent to $4,046.70 per ounce by 1339 GMT. US gold futures for August delivery rose 0.35 per cent to $4,061.40 per ounce. The US dollar eased from recent highs after the release of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge on Thursday.
