Global stocks fell on Thursday in Asia amid a heavy sell-off in technology stocks, while the price of Bitcoin fell as much as 8%.
The latest round of tensions over rising technology stock prices sent South Korea’s Kospi index down nearly 4%. Oil prices fell by more than a dollar per barrel.
Bitcoin was trading near $71,000 early Thursday, down 7.3% after falling to around $69,000 earlier in the day, according to CoinDesk. This is the lowest level since November 2024.
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin fell after US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent said in response to questions in the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday that he did not have the authority to order banks to buy such assets.
In stock trading, Germany’s DAX fell 0.2% to 24,568.67 and the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.2% to 8,278.99. The British FTSE 100 index fell by 0.3% to 10,371.83 points.
The future for S&The P 500 rose 0.2% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.9% to 53,818.04, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 3.9% to 5,163.57.
Shares of the largest company in South Korea, Samsung Electronics, lost 5.9%. Chip maker SK Hynix shares fell 6.7%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng regained early losses, closing 0.1% higher at 26,885.24. The Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.6% to 4,075.92 points.
Australia S&The P/ASX 200 fell 0.4% to 8,889.20, while Taiwan’s Taiex lost 1.5%.
On Wednesday, S&The P 500 index fell 0.5%, suffering its fifth modest loss in the past six days. The Dow Jones rose 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.5%.
More than twice as many stocks rose within S&The P 500 index fell, but a decline in technology stocks affected the index for the second day in a row.
Advanced Micro Devices stock fell 17.3% even though the chip company reported stronger earnings last quarter than analysts expected. It also provided a revenue forecast at the start of 2026 that beat analysts’ expectations, but that may not have satisfied investors after its shares more than doubled over the past 12 months.
Technology stocks are under pressure even as they post stronger-than-expected earnings after their prices rose as they grew to dominate the markets. Meanwhile, companies like software makers face questions about whether they will lose out in the future to competitors powered by AI technology.
Uber Technologies stock also declined in the market after falling 5.1%. The passenger transportation company announced fourth-quarter results that were lower than analysts’ expectations. It also gave a lower earnings forecast for the current quarter than analysts had expected, while appointing a new chief financial officer.
However, some technology stocks rose, including Super Micro Computer, which rose 13.8%. The company, which sells artificial intelligence servers and other equipment, posted stronger earnings last quarter than analysts expected.
Walmart stock rose 0.2%, a day after its total market value surpassed $1 trillion for the first time. The retailer has broken into a small club dominated by big tech companies like Nvidia and Apple, each worth more than $4 trillion.
In other trading early Thursday, the price of US crude oil fell $1.05 to $64.09 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost $1.11 to $68.35 per barrel.
Precious metal prices resumed their volatility, with gold rising 0.2% while silver falling 4.6%.
Their prices have risen and fallen recently as investors have sought safer places to keep their money amid concerns about everything from tariffs to a weak US dollar to heavy debt burdens on governments around the world. But critics said their prices had risen too much, too quickly and were set to fall.
The dollar rose to 157.03 Japanese yen from 156.88 yen. The euro fell to $1.1805 from $1.1809.