European shares fall as tech selloff casts gloom over markets

New Straits Times

15 hours ago

SINGAPORE: Global share markets came under pressure on Wednesday after a tech-led selloff on Wall Street, while the dollar gained some ground ahead of a key meeting of central bankers later in the week.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.26 per cent, with German shares sliding 0.7 per cent.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 eased 0.11 per cent, after data on Wednesday showed nationwide inflation hit its highest in 18 months in July.
The move lower in European markets mirrored a dim day for their Asian counterparts earlier in the day, with tech-heavy indexes in Taiwan and South Korea among the biggest losers.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.74 per cent.
While there was no immediate trigger behind the selloff in technology stocks, analysts pointed to a confluence of factors, including President Donald Trump's growing influence over the sector and a general risk-off mood.
"What we're seeing is a relatively broad momentum unwind, probably triggered by some de-risking ahead of Powell's remarks at Jackson Hole on Friday," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is looking into the government taking equity stakes in Intel as well as other chip companies in exchange for grants under the CHIPS Act that was meant to spur factory-building around the country, sources told Reuters.
The move comes on the back of other unusual deals Washington has recently struck with US companies, including allowing AI chip giant Nvidia to sell its H20 chips to China in exchange for the US government receiving 15 per cent of the revenue from those sales.
"These developments signal that the US government is heading in a concerning and more interventionist direction," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG.
In commodities, oil prices trimmed losses from the previous session, as investors awaited the next steps in talks to end Russia's war on Ukraine, with uncertainty over whether oil sanctions might be eased or tightened.
While a meeting between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a group of European allies over the Russia-Ukraine war concluded without much fanfare, Trump said the United States would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there.
He later said on Tuesday that the United States might provide air support to Ukraine, while ruling out putting US troops on the ground.
"The US is not categorically underwriting anything, any security for Ukraine, even if they're open to provide some, because we don't know the conditions under which they will. So there's quite a bit of risk left out there," said Vishnu Varathan, head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho.
Brent crude futures were last up 0.8 per cent at US$66.32 a barrel, while US crude tacked on 0.72 per cent to US$62.80 per barrel.
AWAITING JACKSON HOLE
All eyes are now on the Kansas City Federal Reserve's August 21-23 Jackson Hole symposium, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak on the economic outlook and the central bank's policy framework on Friday.
Focus will be on what Powell says about the near-term outlook for rates, with traders almost fully pricing in a rate cut next month.
"Given the apparent tensions between US CPI and PPI data, (it) does come across as ... premature to declare one way or the other. And most importantly, given this kind of dilemma embedded within the data, it is hard to decipher whether the Fed would take or would emphasise the risks that start to mount on the job side of the equation or (the) need to sit firm," said Mizuho's Varathan.
Ahead of the gathering, the dollar firmed slightly, pushing the euro down 0.06 per cent to US$1.1639. Sterling rose a touch after the release of the UK inflation data and was last little changed at US$1.3494.
The New Zealand dollar tumbled more than 1 per cent after its central bank cut rates as expected and flagged further reductions in coming months as policymakers warned of domestic and global headwinds to growth. The kiwi last bought US$0.5829.
Elsewhere, spot gold rose 0.29 per cent to US$3,324.89 an ounce.