BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares retreated Tuesday, with South Korea’s Kospi sinking almost 5% despite a rebound for AI stocks that lifted benchmarks on Wall Street.Oil prices rose and U.S. futures were mixed. In Seoul, the Kospi dropped as much as 8% but recovered some losses to close 4.9% lower at 7,656.31. Shares in computer chipmaker Samsung Electronics slumped 7.7% even after it announced its operating income surged 19-fold to 89.4 trillion won ($58.7 billion) in the last quarter while its revenue more than doubled. SK Hynix lost 6.7%. Kim Seok-hwan, an analyst at South Korean securities firm Mirae Asset, attributed drop for Samsung to foreign investors locking in recent gains and rebalancing their portfolios. AI stocks have been gyrating on fears their prices have shot too high, raising questions about whether all the dollars flowing into AI chips and data centers can possibly create enough gains in productivity and profits to make back all the investments.
“The first proper AI stress test may not have arrived with weak demand, a capex warning, or some sudden crack in the data center story. It may have arrived with Samsung posting an extraordinary quarter and the stock falling anyway,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
