Australian shares to open lower as chip sell-off weighs on Nasdaq
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The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open lower after Wall Street was rattled by a sell-off in chipmakers overnight, as investors questioned whether heavy investment in artificial intelligence can justify elevated valuations.
The numbers: Updated at 8:00am AEST:
- ASX futures: down 39 points to 8,743 points
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.25%, S&P 500 down 0.45%, Nasdaq down 1.50%
- Europe: FTSE 100 up 0.13%, CAC 40 down 0.51%, DAX down 1.37%
- Spot gold: down 1.53% to USD4,102 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 5.55% to USD75.98/barrel, US WTI up 5.48% to USD72.31/bbl
- AUD: down 0.45% at 69.24 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 1.15% to USD63,296
The context: The Nasdaq closed sharply lower on Tuesday, led by losses in chipmakers as investors questioned the sustainability of Wall Street’s AI-driven rally. Micron Technology fell 4.7%, helping drag the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down 4.6% and trimming its 2026 gain to about 74%, according to Reuters.
The weakness followed a sell-off in Seoul, where Samsung shares dropped 7%, weighing on South Korea’s memory-chip makers and the Kospi Index. Although Samsung reported a 19-fold increase in second-quarter operating profit and beat estimates, the results failed to meet elevated investor expectations.
The latest sell-off marks another bout of volatility of memory-chip makers and other AI-related stocks, as investors grow concerned that the rally driven by AI data centre investment has pushed valuations too high.
Elsewhere, energy prices rose late in the session after the US revoked Iran’s license to sell oil in response to attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz following a strike on a Qatari LNG tanker and a Saudi crude tanker overnight.
Locally, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the latest building approvals and building activity data at 11:30am AEST.
