Feb 4: Asian stocks were on shaky ground on Wednesday, following steep losses in US and European equities on fears that advancements in artificial intelligence could supplant traditional software.
Oil prices climbed after the US shot down an Iranian drone and armed boats approached a US-flagged vessel in a key waterway, while precious metals found a firmer footing after a recent rout.
A selloff among US and European data analytics, professional services and software companies deepened after Anthropic's launch of plug-ins for its Claude Cowork agent on Friday sparked worries of an AI-fuelled disruption to those industries.
Selling pressure was, however, less acute in Asia, given the region's historical dominance in hardware manufacturing.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.2%, while Japan's Nikkei fell 1.23%.
In the oil market, Brent crude futures rose 1% to $68.03 a barrel while US crude advanced 1.1% to $63.90 per barrel as recent events stoked concerns that talks aimed at de-escalating US-Iran tensions could be disrupted.
The US military on Tuesday shot down an Iranian drone that "aggressively" approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, the US military said. A group of Iranian gunboats also approached a US-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz north of Oman, maritime sources and a security consultancy said. OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq export most of their crude via the strait, mainly to Asia. "Reuters
