SINGAPORE – The Singapore market had a turbulent start on June 8 amid a wider global sell-off in technology stocks and an escalation of conflict in the Middle East.The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 1.5 per cent, or over 75 points, when the market opened on the first trading day of the week, sliding alongside other Asian indexes.The STI dropped 1.9 per cent to 4,955.47 as at 2pm on Monday.Singapore’s tech stocks were hit by the wider sell-off on Wall Street.Semiconductor testing equipment maker AEM fell some 4 per cent, while UMS shares slipped by around 3 per cent.Precision engineering firm InnoTek, which is a player in the AI and electric vehicle space, declined by over 4 per cent.Tech firms Frencken, Addvalue Tech and Venture also saw shares fall by 1 to 2 per cent.In Asia, South Korea’s chip-heavy Kospi benchmark was the worst hit, plunging 8.1 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei slid some 4 per cent and Taiwan’s benchmark was down 3.5 per cent.South Korean chip giant Samsung Electronics sank 9.5 per cent while its peer SK Hynix lost 6.5 per cent.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, or TSMC, dipped 2.1 per cent and Hon Hai Precision, also known as Foxconn, lost 5.1 per cent.US stock markets saw a massive drop on June 5 before the weekend, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipping some 4 per cent due to fears that the gains made by big AI players might be unsustainable.Major investment funds pulled money out of AI and microchip companies, the BBC reported.The sell-off in tech names was triggered after custom chip designer Broadcom reported its second quarter revenue, which missed market estimates.This set off a cascading effect across the tech sector as simmering fears of an AI bubble boiled over and institutional and retail investors pulled back on their tech holdings.Retail investors are also tested by the imminent initial public offering (IPO) of SpaceX by tech mogul Elon Musk.Set to be one of the biggest IPOs in recent years, it might also pull liquidity from the market as investors sell their positions in other tech stocks to raise the capital needed to invest in SpaceX, experts told Bloomberg.Shares in SpaceX are expected to be released to investors on June 12 and it will be listed on the Nasdaq.The general souring of market sentiment has also hit SGX heavyweights.The three local banks saw shares fall, with DBS down 1.4 per cent, OCBC down nearly 2 per cent and UOB down 1.8 per cent.Even CNMC Goldmine, which enjoyed increases in share price after the gold rally of the last two years, was down nearly 7 per cent.Gold prices fell over the weekend despite its typical reputation of being a safe haven during times of volatility. Prices fell some 3 per cent on June 6 due to rising fears of a US rate hike ‌after an unexpectedly strong jobs report.Israel and Iran exchanging strikes over the weekend also pushed oil prices higher and stoked inflation fears.Crude oil rose to nearly US$94 per barrel on June 8, nearly 4 per cent higher than its previous price.Sue-Ann Tan is a business correspondent at The Straits Times, covering capital markets and sustainable finance.