Asian stocks fall on tech weakness; Korean chipmakers Samsung, SK Hynix retreat
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slips 0.6% as the Kospi index sheds 4.3%
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ASIAN equities dropped on Tuesday (Jul 7) as technology shares came under renewed selling pressure, with Samsung Electronics falling after its earnings report.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.6 per cent with decliners slightly outnumbering gainers. Technology stocks led losses, with Samsung falling more than 6 per cent even after quarterly profit surged 19-times.
That weighed on the Kospi index, which retreated 4.3 per cent. The chip sector remained in focus with SK Hynix shares dropping 4.2 per cent after kicking off the formal marketing process for its US listing.
Among the major markets moves, the S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 9.48 am Tokyo time.
The Hang Seng futures rose 0.1 per cent, the Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) fell 0.8 per cent, Japan’s Topix rose 0.4 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.4 per cent.
US equity index futures also edged lower in early Asian trading. Contracts for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index declined 0.4 per cent, indicating Monday’s rebound on Wall Street may be brief.
Elsewhere, Brent crude rose 0.4 per cent to about US$72.25 a barrel after reports that a tanker was struck in the Strait of Hormuz underscored the risks to shipping through the vital waterway.
Recent swings in tech stocks have left investors searching for fresh evidence that the artificial intelligence boom can sustain its momentum.
Even after US semiconductor shares posted a record quarter, attention has turned to whether soaring capital spending, rising competition and expanding capacity will deliver the earnings growth needed to justify lofty expectations.
“Are we in an AI bubble? We think the answer depends on whether AI can turn today’s scarcity into tomorrow’s abundance,” according to BlackRock Investment Institute’s team led by Jean Boivin.
“Markets are increasingly pricing that outcome, expecting AI to lift productivity and growth enough to sustain today’s extraordinary earnings.”
In other corners of the market, the yen was a touch weaker around 162.15 per US dollar as positioning data showed hedge funds turned the most negative on the Japanese currency since 2007.
Treasuries were little changed after gaining on Monday following less hawkish wagers for the Federal Reserve. Japan bond futures rose ahead of a 30-year auction, which will be a test of investor appetite.
In Asia, early attention was on Samsung’s earnings. The company’s quarterly profit soared past elevated expectations due to rocketing demand for memory chips needed in AI data centres.
The world’s largest memory maker reported preliminary operating income of 89.4 trillion won (US$58 billion) in the three months through June, dwarfing its performance for all of 2025. Analysts on average had projected 84.2 trillion won.
The stock’s decline indicates that “investors might have already priced in solid results and are increasingly focused on the longer-term trajectory of the memory cycle,” said Albert Yong, managing partner at hedge fund Petra Capital Management. BLOOMBERG
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