Big technology stocks have driven half of the gains in some of Asia’s main indices this year, raising concerns among some investors that the fast-growing US artificial intelligence sector is fuelling a bubble in equity markets in other parts of the world.
Six tech companies expected to benefit from the AI boom — including ecommerce group Alibaba, smartphone maker Xiaomi and video sharing app Kuaishou — account for 50 per cent of the returns of Hong Kong’s Hang Seng this year, according to Financial Times calculations.
In South Korea, two stocks are responsible for 40 per cent of the index’s return, while in Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC is responsible for more than half of year to date gains on the Taiex.