SINGAPORE — Asian stocks experienced a volatile session on Thursday as worries over the outlook for artificial intelligence bellwether Nvidia’s (NVDA.O), China business, opens new tab hit its regional suppliers, while igniting outsized gains in its Chinese rivals.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan swung between gains and losses, and was last down 0.4 percent, as US equity futures were dragged lower by an after-hours decline of 3.1 percent in shares of the chip designer, which has become the world’s most valuable company.
“After such a strong run, investor exposure was stretched, leaving little margin for disappointment,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo in Singapore.
“We should expect some spillover,” she added, even though it is unlikely to hurt wider investor confidence.
“Asian chipmakers — especially in Korea and Taiwan — are the cleanest beta to Nvidia and will likely feel the drag.”
In early European trades, pan-region futures were last flat, German DAX futures gained 0.1 percent and FTSE futures were up 0.1 percent.
The European single currency was unchanged on the day at $1.1642, holding on to a three-week winning streak that bumped up its gains this month to 2 percent, as traders dialled back expectations of the hit to French government borrowing costs stemming from the country’s deepening political crisis.
