Shares slipped Friday in Asia after a day of dramatic swings on Wall Street that included Microsoft’s worst drop in nearly six years.
Oil prices dropped and the prices of gold and silver weakened.
The CEO of Indonesia's stock market, Imam Rachman, resigned Friday “As part of a commitment toward recent market conditions,” the exchange said in an announcement.
Jakarta's benchmark gained 1.2% following news of his resignation. It had been trading at all-time highs but sank 7.4% on Wednesday and 1.1% on Thursday after MSCI, a U.S. provider of global equity, fixed income and real estate indices, warned about market risks such as a lack of transparency.
Chinese markets retreated, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong down 1.8% to 27,455.13. Shares in major ports operator CK Hutchison Holdings dropped 5% after Panama’s Supreme Court ruled that the concession held by a subsidiary to operate ports at either end of the Panama Canal was unconstitutional.
That advanced a U.S. effort to block any influence by China over the strategic waterway.
The Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.9% to 4,122.61.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell back, losing 0.1% to 53,322.85 as stocks related to artificial intelligence declined. Testing equipment maker Advantest lost 4.5% and computer chip equipment maker Disco Corp. lost 1.7%.
South Korea's Kospi gave up most of its gains late in the session, edging 0.1% higher to 5,224.36 after the Yonhap News Agency reported that a first day of talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick aimed at resolving trade tensions had not yielded an agreement. The talks are due to continue Friday.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said he planned to raise tariffs on South Korean exports if the U.S. ally did not swiftly ratify a trade agreement worked out months ago.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.7% to 8,869.10.
Taiwan's benchmark lost 1.5%.
On Thursday, U.S. stocks finished with relatively modest moves.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% after flirting with its record high in the morning and dropping by as much as 1.5% later in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.7%.
Microsoft was the heaviest weight on the market by far, tumbling 10% even though it reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It was the stock’s worst day since the market’s COVID crash in 2020.
Tesla also weighed on the market after falling 3.5%. It delivered a bigger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, but the results were sharply lower than from a year earlier.
Companies are under pressure to deliver solid growth in profits following record-setting runs for their stock prices. Stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term, and earnings need to rise to quiet criticism that stocks have grown too expensive.
In other dealings early Friday, the price of gold slipped 2.8% to $5,205 per ounce after it rallied briefly to near $5,600 on Thursday. Gold’s price topped $5,000 for the first time just this week and it has nearly doubled over the last 12 months.
Silver, which has been zooming higher in its own feverish run, declined 4.1% to nearly $110.41.
Prices for precious metals have been surging as investors look for safer investments while weighing a wide range of risks, including a U.S. stock market that critics say is expensive, political instability, threats of tariffs and heavy debt loads for governments worldwide.
The U.S. dollar has seen its value sink over the last year because of many of the same risks that drove gold’s price higher. Early Friday, the dollar was trading at 153.85 Japanese yen, up from 152.97 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1921 from $1.1967.
Oil prices slipped after jumping more than 3% on Thursday due to worries about tensions between the United States and Iran, which could ultimately constrict the flow of crude. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned the U.S. military “will be prepared to deliver whatever the president expects,” just a day after President Donald Trump told Iran to “make a deal” on its nuclear program.
U.S. benchmark crude oil lost $1.07 to $64.35 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed $1.10 to $68.49 per barrel.
/Micron%20Technology%20Inc_%20logo%20on%20building-by%20vzphotos%20vis%20iStock.jpg)
/Semiconductor%20chip%20by%20Mykola%20Pokhodzhay%20via%20iStock.jpg)
/Broadcom%20Inc%20logo%20on%20building-by%20Poetra_%20RH%20via%20Shutterstock.jpg)
/PayPal%20Holdings%20Inc%20HQ%20photo-by%20bennymarty%20via%20iStock.jpg)