Live updates: Market jitters persist as the AI selloff deepens
South Korea’s KOSPI fell almost 4%, accompanied by one of the weakest IPO debuts in the country’s history, with data centre company Elice tumbling around 30%.
Market jitters persist as the AI selloff deepens. South Korea’s KOSPI fell almost 4%, accompanied by one of the weakest IPO debuts in the country’s history, with data centre company Elice tumbling around 30%.
The weakness carried into U.S. pre-market trading, with CoreWeave (CRWV) down 4%, Cipher Digital CIFR falling 2% and IREN IREN losing 3%. The Invesco QQQ ETF also traded lower, reflecting broader pressure on technology stocks.
Bitcoin edged lower over the past 24 hours but held above $81,000, while gold slipped almost 1% to just above $4,110 an ounce. Brent and WTI crude oil each climbed a further 2%.
Long-dated U.S. Treasuries appear to be attracting defensive flows, with the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) rising 0.5%.
Asanat Analysis — Why it matters
The AI sector selloff is triggering cascading effects across equity markets and IPO pipelines, with South Korea's KOSPI decline and Elice's 30% plunge signaling deteriorating sentiment for infrastructure plays. This matters to crypto because AI-adjacent sectors (data centres, compute networks) often lead broader risk-off cycles that pull capital from digital assets. When traditional tech equity IPOs crater on debut, institutional allocation rotations accelerate, and margin calls in linked portfolios can force deleveraging across uncorrelated assets including crypto.
The weakness in South Korean markets is particularly significant given the region's outsized exposure to semiconductor and AI infrastructure bets. A sustained equity downturn there could amplify crypto liquidations if Korean retail traders and exchanges face funding pressures. Historically, regional market stress has spilled into offshore crypto venues within 24-48 hours, particularly for spot trading in major pairs where Korean exchanges maintain significant market-making roles.