AFP, Hong Kong :
Technology firms across Asia tumbled on Thursday, dragging most markets in the region into the red, following sharp losses on major US firms including Apple and Netflix.
The retreat is the latest to hit Asia as investors fret over a recent rally that has sent several indexes to record highs, though a surprise jump in a gauge of Chinese factory activity provided some support to Shanghai.
While Wall Street saw the Dow chalk up a fresh record following strong US economic growth figures, the Nasdaq took a hammering with analysts pointing to a technical shift ahead of a Senate debate on tax cuts this week.
“The prospect of US tax cuts actually being passed appears to have prompted a value rotation away from the FANG stocks and the tech-heavy Nasdaq and back toward financials and other sectors of the market that will benefit if the tax bill does indeed pass into law,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader.
FANG refers to tech titans Facebook, Apple, Netflix and Google-which now trades as Alphabet-that have been at the forefront of a market surge in the sector this year.
The selling flooded through to Asia, where Samsung dived 3.4 percent and Sony lost 2.3 percent. Tencent-which recently joined the $500 billion market value club-was down three percent in Hong Kong, where AAC Technologies plunged 6.4 percent.
On broader markets Hong Kong was down 1.5 percent in the afternoon, while Shanghai ended down 0.6 percent.
Technology firms across Asia tumbled on Thursday, dragging most markets in the region into the red, following sharp losses on major US firms including Apple and Netflix.
The retreat is the latest to hit Asia as investors fret over a recent rally that has sent several indexes to record highs, though a surprise jump in a gauge of Chinese factory activity provided some support to Shanghai.
While Wall Street saw the Dow chalk up a fresh record following strong US economic growth figures, the Nasdaq took a hammering with analysts pointing to a technical shift ahead of a Senate debate on tax cuts this week.
“The prospect of US tax cuts actually being passed appears to have prompted a value rotation away from the FANG stocks and the tech-heavy Nasdaq and back toward financials and other sectors of the market that will benefit if the tax bill does indeed pass into law,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader.
FANG refers to tech titans Facebook, Apple, Netflix and Google-which now trades as Alphabet-that have been at the forefront of a market surge in the sector this year.
The selling flooded through to Asia, where Samsung dived 3.4 percent and Sony lost 2.3 percent. Tencent-which recently joined the $500 billion market value club-was down three percent in Hong Kong, where AAC Technologies plunged 6.4 percent.
On broader markets Hong Kong was down 1.5 percent in the afternoon, while Shanghai ended down 0.6 percent.
