Asian stocks came under pressure from technology shares on the afternoon of December 15th.

Asian markets fell across the board in afternoon trading on December 15th. This decline stemmed from renewed investor concerns about the surge in technology stocks fueled by artificial intelligence (AI), particularly after weak earnings reports from two major companies raised questions about the rationality of their massive investments in the sector.

The Nikkei 225 index is displayed at a foreign exchange trading company in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Kyodo/VNA.

The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo fell 1.3% to 50,168.11 points at closing, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong (China) dropped 1.3% to 25,628.88 points, and the Composite index on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined 0.6% to 3,867.92 points.

The stock sell-off occurred as traders temporarily ignored concerns about the Federal Reserve's monetary policy after three consecutive interest rate cuts. However, the market will pay particular attention to key US economic data in the coming days, including employment and inflation, as this information could influence the Fed's decision at its meeting next month.

Over the past two years, technology companies have led the global stock market thanks to heavy investments in AI, with Nvidia becoming the first company to reach a $5 trillion market capitalization by October 2025. However, in recent weeks, high valuations and the risk of slow returns from AI have put these companies in a difficult position. This concern has increased following disappointing earnings results from Oracle and Broadcom last week.

The Tokyo and Seoul markets have hit several records this year thanks to the surge in the technology sector, while Taipei (China) and Hong Kong experienced the biggest losses in this session. The Sydney, Singapore, and Mumbai stock markets also saw significant sell-offs, while Manila and Bangkok saw slight gains, and Wellington remained stable.

Among the biggest price drops were those of South Korean chip giants Samsung and SK Hynix, and Japanese technology investment firm SoftBank, which fell by more than 7%.

Investors are also bracing for a week of economic data releases, including the US jobs reports for October and November 2025, which were delayed due to the government shutdown, along with inflation data. These figures will be analyzed to predict the Fed's interest rate plan for January 2026, even as traders have lowered expectations for rate cuts next year.

In Vietnam, at the close of trading on December 15th, the VN-Index remained almost unchanged, falling 0.88 points (0.05%) to 1,646.01 points. The HNX-Index fell to 249.37 points, down 0.72 points (0.29%).

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thi-truong-tien-te/chieu-1512-chung-khoan-chau-a-chiu-ap-luc-tu-co-phieu-cong-nghe-20251215170110770.htm