Stocks waver as tech worries build / Photo: SAEED KHAN - AFP
Stocks waver as tech worries build
European stock markets mostly recovered Friday after a mixed performance in Asia following a rout among technology heavyweights on Wall Street, triggered by growing unease about the billions being spent on artificial intelligence.
The selling hit other assets, with Bitcoin falling further and wiping out all the gains built up since Donald Trump's US presidential election win.
The digital currency plunged near $60,000 before paring losses, and has shed around half its value since touching a record high above $126,000 in October.
Frankfurt and London both gained while the CAC 40 in Paris was flat, pulled down by Jeep maker Stellantis after it warned of a 22 billion euro write-down after admitting it misjudged the industry's shift to electric vehicles.
Stellantis shares plunged 25 percent to 6.12 euros, and are now down around 80 percent over the past two years.
Equity markets in Asia tracked Wall Street losses as concerns grew about the wisdom of pumping vast sums into AI with little clarity on the timing of returns.
Seoul -- which had led the region's January rally thanks to its heavy tech weighting -- ended 1.4 percent lower.
"It's been a week from hell for tech stocks as AI spending plans caused upset across global markets," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
Investor caution remained high during the earnings season, as Amazon and Google parent Alphabet both outlined ballooning spending plans this week.
Sentiment had already been rattled after Anthropic -- which created the Claude chatbot -- unveiled this week a model that could replace numerous software tools, including for legal work and data marketing.
"For Europe, this period has highlighted the relative safety of assets aligned with the real economy rather than technology," said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.
Oil prices gained as officials from Iran and the United States kicked off talks in Oman on Tehran's nuclear programme and other issues, with Washington refusing to rule out military action.
In other company news, shares in British-Australian giant Rio Tinto finished flat in Sydney after it dropped merger talks with Swiss resources firm Glencore.
The deal would have created the world's biggest mining firm, worth about $260 billion.
Rio Tinto's London-listed stock fell 0.1 percent on Friday, while Glencore climbed one percent, clawing back some of the previous day's losses.
Toyota jumped two percent in Tokyo after hiking profit and sales forecasts for the current fiscal year despite the impact of US tariffs.
- Key figures at around 1100 GMT -
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 10,314.77 points
Paris - CAC 40: FLAT at 8,240.49
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.3 percent at 24,572.86
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 54,253.68 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.2 percent at 26,559.95 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 4,065.58 (close)
New York - Dow: DOWN 1.2 percent at 48,908.72 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1793 from $1.1784 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3574 from $1.3541
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 156.93 yen from 157.02 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.91 pence from 87.02 pence
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at $63.55 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $67.81 per barrel
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