Stocks slide as traders reconsider tech bets; gold and silver prices fall

Hong Kong: Stocks mostly fell Thursday to track more losses on Wall Street, where tech firms were again under pressure as fears over vast AI investmen...

Hong Kong: Stocks mostly fell Thursday to track more losses on Wall Street, where tech firms were again under pressure as fears over vast AI investments and extended valuations gained momentum.

While the extreme volatility that greeted the start of the week has calmed, traders remained on edge over the impact of artificial intelligence on companies' bottom lines, while precious metals again took a drubbing.

The latest development to spook markets was news that AI startup Anthropic -- which created the Claude chatbot -- had unveiled a tool that could be used by firms to carry out legal work.

Tuesday's announcement hit firms in the software, financial services and asset management industries, though analysts said there has been a general shift by investors out of tech following years of eye-watering gains, and into other industries.

An underwhelming response to earnings from titans including Alphabet, ARM and Microsoft has aided that move, which also comes as questions are raised about the wisdom of pumping hundreds of billions into AI with little idea about the timing of returns.