Asia stocks turn higher, tech recovers as OpenAI revenue fears ease

Investing.com-- Asian stocks recovered from early losses on Friday after a Bloomberg report that OpenAI expects annualized revenue to reach or exceed $70 billion by year-end eased investors' concerns about demand for artificial intelligence.

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U.S. stock index futures also turned modestly higher as of 02:29 ET (06:29 GMT).

The rebound followed a sharp selloff in technology shares on Wall Street on Thursday, when weaker-than-expected revenue projections for OpenAI revived concerns about whether massive spending on AI infrastructure would generate sufficient returns. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.5%.

Japan's Nikkei 225 traded flat after falling nearly 1% earlier in the day, while the broader TOPIX index gained 0.4%.

China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.3%, while the blue-chip Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 added 0.4%. Both indexes had fallen more than 1% in early trade.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.5%, with the Hang Seng TECH sub-index climbing nearly 3%.

OpenAI's annualized revenue was about $50 billion at the end of September, Bloomberg reported on Friday, and the figure is expected to reach $70 billion or more by December.

The latest revenue outlook helped ease some investor concerns following reports that OpenAI's annualized revenue was running about $20 billion below earlier indications, which had triggered selling in chipmakers and other companies exposed to AI spending.

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SoftBank Group (TYO:9984), a major investor in OpenAI, pared some losses to trade 3.5% lower, while chip-related and electronics companies also trimmed declines.

Markets in South Korea and Taiwan were closed for holidays.

Australia' S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.6% higher. However, Nvidia-backed data-centre operator Firmus shelved plans for a roughly $5 billion initial public offering, citing market volatility and opting for private fundraising instead.

Elsewhere, Singapore's Straits Times Index traded flat, while India's Nifty 50 gained 1.1%.

Indian information technology companies rose on Friday on accelerating artificial intelligence revenue at Tata Consultancy Services (NSE:TCS), despite sluggish growth in its traditional business.

Energy prices remained another source of pressure. Brent crude surged more than 4% on Thursday to above $103 a barrel as concerns over the war in the Middle East threatened oil supplies and stoked inflation fears.

Prices eased slightly on Friday, but investors remained wary that a renewed escalation could push energy costs higher and complicate the outlook for interest rates.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington would not attack Iran before the November midterm elections, although uncertainty over the conflict persisted.

Bond markets also remained in focus after a prolonged selloff pushed long-term borrowing costs to multi-decade highs. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield eased to around 5.23% after rising to a 24-year high earlier in the week, offering some relief to equities.

Elevated yields continued to challenge valuations for growth stocks and increase financing costs for companies investing heavily in AI.

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