By Ronnie Harui


Asian stocks fell on Friday, amid growing anxiety among investors over massive artificial-intelligence capital expenditure plans.

Most equity markets in the region declined, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street that were partly driven by signs of a weakening U.S. labor market. Government and private sources indicated unexpectedly low job openings for December, surprisingly high claims for unemployment insurance last week and a sharp uptick in corporate job cuts last month.

In an indication of sharp swings in regional benchmark indexes, South Korea's stock-market regulator briefly halted trading on the main exchange on Friday. The trading curb, designed to limit excessive market moves, was triggered by the Kospi 200 Futures index's fall of more than 5%, Korea Exchange said.

Momentum trades, which have performed very well over the past few quarters, have been getting unwound, DBS Group Research's Eugene Leow said in commentary. "These include going long tech, long precious metals and short USD," the senior rates strategist said.

South Korea's Kospi fell 1.8%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 1.4% and Singapore's FTSE Straits Times Index declined 0.7%.

Amazon.com unveiled plans for a huge increase in AI-related spending. The technology company said it expects capital spending to hit $200 billion in 2026, a nearly 60% increase from last year and far above Wall Street expectations.

"In particular, investors are questioning the enormous capex plans from the hyperscalers," DBS Group Research's Leow said. "Stresses are showing in stock price performance and credit related instruments," he added.

Spot gold rose 1.2% to $4,832.26 a troy ounce after earlier touching $4,655.30 an ounce, the lowest intraday level since Feb. 2, ICE data showed. Bitcoin rebounded 3.1% to $65,085.12 after reaching $60,008.52, the lowest intraday level since October 2024, LSEG data showed.

"The asset has seen such dramatic selloffs before, and the rebound will be swift if it comes," IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp said of bitcoin.

The ICE USD Index was little changed at 97.86, according to FactSet data.


Write to Ronnie Harui at ronnie.harui@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-05-26 2225ET