Bitcoin fell to around half of its record high, erasing all gains made since U.S. President Donald Trump secured a second term in the White House, News.Az reports, citing AP.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 bucked the broader regional trend, rising 0.5% to 54,073.52 as it recovered from earlier losses this week. Technology-related shares led the advance, with SoftBank Group climbing 1.9% and chipmaker Tokyo Electron gaining 3%. Investors are also watching Japan’s general election scheduled for Sunday, where Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is seeking a stronger public mandate for her policy agenda.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.7% to 5,076.69, pressured by declines in technology stocks. Samsung Electronics, the country’s largest listed company, slipped 0.9%, while chipmaker SK Hynix fell 0.6%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 1.2% to 26,569.14, while mainland China’s Shanghai Composite index was unchanged at 4,075.37.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.6% to 8,745.60, and Taiwan’s Taiex edged down 0.2%.
Amid the broader technology sell-off this week, enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies faded. Bitcoin, the world’s largest digital asset, was trading nearly 9% lower at just under $65,000 early Friday, after briefly plunging more than 12% to below $64,000 on Thursday. That marked a sharp retreat from its October record high of above $124,000.
U.S. stock futures pointed to further weakness, with S&P 500 futures down 0.3% and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures off 0.2%.
On Thursday, Wall Street closed sharply lower. The S&P 500 fell 1.2% to 6,798.40, marking its sixth decline in seven sessions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also lost 1.2%, ending at 48,908.72, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.6% to 22,540.59.
Technology stocks were among the hardest hit as concerns persisted over whether massive investments in artificial intelligence by major technology firms will deliver sufficient returns.
Qualcomm shares tumbled 8.5% despite reporting better-than-expected quarterly revenue. Alphabet slipped 0.5% as investors focused on its heavy spending on AI initiatives.
Amazon shares sank 11% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the company announced plans to increase capital spending by more than 50%, to about $200 billion, largely for AI and other strategic investments.
Adding to the pressure on software stocks, new artificial intelligence tools unveiled by U.S. startup Anthropic contributed to fears that increasingly sophisticated AI could disrupt or replace many traditional software development services and products.
Precious metals also experienced sharp swings this week following a months-long rally driven by demand for safe-haven assets amid elevated geopolitical tensions. Gold prices fell 1% on Friday to $4,843.70 per ounce, after approaching $5,600 last week.
Silver prices dropped 6.6% to $71.63 per ounce after earlier gains this week and were down more than 31% from last Friday.
In energy markets, U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 35 cents to $63.64 a barrel in early trading, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, gained 36 cents to $67.91 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar weakened to 156.74 Japanese yen from 157.03 yen. The euro edged higher, trading at $1.1789, up from $1.1777.
