BOF

[SINGAPORE] Investors dumped chip stocks in Singapore and the region on Friday (Oct 30) following a similar rout overnight on Wall Street.

By 9.30 am, AEM had lost more than 11 per cent to S$7.23, while UMS Integration had fallen 9 per cent to S$2.07 and Frencken 4.7 per cent to S$2.02. Newly-listed Mi Material, which makes chip packaging materials, remained flat at its IPO price of S$1.80 as OCBC recently bought shares on the open market to stabilise its price.

In Korea, where SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics are among the world’s biggest chip manufacturers, the Kospi Composite Index was down almost 5 per cent in mid-morning trading.

The region’s chip losses tracked an overnight slide on Wall Street, where shares of Google’s Alphabet closed 12.6 per cent lower to US$283.82 on Thursday – its biggest single day loss since the company listed in 2004.

The exit from Alphabet was sparked by the company’s third-quarter revenue of US$127.6 billion coming in below expectations.

In the broader tech market, US stocks tumbled for a second session as investors rotated out of AI-linked stocks on another round of disappointing earnings.

Amazon.com slumped 7.3 per cent after the company reported higher spending, while growth in its online business slowed. Intel plunged after its sales forecast missed estimates.

Futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index slid 2 per cent as the latest results added to a string of disappointments from major tech companies.

SGX-listed chip shares have been on a downward trend over the past month.

Month-to-date, AEM has seen a 24.8 per cent dip in share price. UMS has also slid 24 per cent, while Frencken has dipped 22.5 per cent.