Dax: Global tech sell-off puts stock market prices under pressure

The sharp drop in prices on the US stock markets as a result of the sell-off in the AI ​​and semiconductor sectors caused the Dax to temporarily slide back below the 26,000 point mark on Friday. A quarter of an hour after opening on Xetra, the leading German index lost 1.46 percent to 25,940 points. He later recovered somewhat.

The day before, it had reached a record high of 26,692 points before weakness on the US stock markets set in and ultimately pushed it into the red. “Caution is increasing, especially since the DAX, with its record high, has just priced in an optimal environment that no longer prevails,” commented market analyst Jochen Stanzl from Consorsbank.

The MDax of medium-sized companies fell by 1.07 percent to 30,560 points. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 lost 1.2 percent.

Markets in Asia react nervously

In Asia, indices also fell sharply on Friday, particularly Japan's Nikkei 225 and South Korea's Kospi. The Chinese stock exchanges fared somewhat better. The CSI 300 index with the 300 most important stocks from the mainland fell by 1.4 percent, the Hang Seng index of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region fell by 1.3 percent.

The occasion was the victory of the Democrats in the US congressional elections. “Investors are realizing that the US midterm elections could also change the political framework for the AI ​​boom,” noted market analyst Andreas Lipkow from broker CMC Markets.

“Due to new majorities and changes in political leadership at the state level, data center projects that were previously considered safe may come under renewed scrutiny,” he said. This increases uncertainty about future investment needs and the speed of the planned capacity expansion. The valuation premiums are therefore increasingly being questioned and reduced.

“Exactly what investors have been fearing for months has happened on Wall Street: that the cluster risk from a few tech heavyweights will take revenge and drag the major indices down if they fall more sharply,” says expert Stanzl. “The fear of the Democrats stopping AI expansion is clouding the mood.”

In New York, the Nasdaq 100 technology selection index recorded its biggest daily loss on Thursday since the Corona crash in March 2020. Ultimately he lost 6.4 percent. The semiconductor index SOX even fell by more than 12 percent. It was also a weak day for the market-wide S&P 500 and the US leading index Dow Jones Industrial.