Asian markets rebound after chip-stock sell-off

Asian markets rebounded on Friday after a sharp sell-off in chip stocks a day earlier, as investors took heart from Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang’s remarks dismissing concerns about financing problems at major customer CoreWeave. [1]

Tokyo’s Nikkei was up 1.9% shortly before the market closed, after falling nearly 5% on Thursday. Seoul’s Kospi gained more than 4%, following a drop of almost 8% the previous day. [1]

CoreWeave shares rose nearly 6% on Thursday after plunging 15.5% on Wednesday amid concern over the company’s heavy debt burden. That drop helped fuel wider doubts over whether vast investment in artificial intelligence can justify the high valuations of technology and chip companies, and contributed to a global sell-off in AI-related shares. [1]

Huang said he did not believe Nvidia would need to rescue the data-centre company, according to the report. The gains in Asian markets marked a partial recovery, rather than a full reversal of the previous day’s losses. [1]