Shares of major information technology companies rose during early trade Friday amid a rout in global artificial intelligence stocks. Shares of Nifty 50 constituents HCL Technologies, Infosys, and Tata Consultancy Services rose 1–2%, while Wipro, Persistent Systems, and Coforge were up around 1% each in the Nifty 200.
At 12 pm, the Nifty IT index was marginally higher at 32,111.75, the only gaining sector in the domestic equity market. So far this month, the index has gained 17%. Growing concerns about unchecked spending have led to losses in global AI stocks over the past couple of weeks. On Friday, the South Korean KOSPI and Japan's Nikkei 225 were down around 1% each following losses in stocks of major AI and adjacent stocks such as Samsung Electronics and Tokyo Electron. This came after overnight losses in the stocks of major technology companies in the US such as Nvidia and Alphabet, which dragged down the Nasdaq Composite index to end nearly 3% lower.
Meta shares lost nearly 8%, overnight on Wall Street, after the Facebook parent posted its first cash outflow in more than a decade due to its AI-related expenditure.
The Kospi Index in South Korea pared losses of as much as 4.1% to trade little changed as chipmakers such as SK Hynix Inc. erased earlier losses and jumped 4%. The broader MSCI Asia Pacific equities Index was down just 0.2%, having earlier fallen as much as 1.1%.
Following a rout in chip stocks Thursday on Wall Street, tech shares in Asia Pacific had retreated, pushing MSCI Inc.’s regional equities toward its lowest close since late July. Equities later recovered some ground, with Nasdaq 100 futures erasing earlier declines to edge up 0.1%. European shares were also set for a modest gain at the open.