Emerging market equities are set for a weekly decline, primarily due to a significant selloff in technology shares in Asia. This retreat is largely attributed to renewed concerns about the sustainability of the artificial intelligence rally, particularly following a disappointing outlook from Broadcom Inc. earlier in the month. The MSCI Inc.’s benchmark stocks gauge, which has a heavy weighting towards Asian markets, experienced a 1.6% drop on Thursday, with its information-technology subindex plummeting as much as 3% on June 4, 2026, marking its worst day in approximately three weeks.
More recently, a steep selloff in South Korean technology shares on June 23, 2026, further impacted emerging markets. The MSCI index for emerging market currencies fell 0.2%, extending its losing streak, as the dollar strengthened to its strongest level of the year. This "risk-off" mood was exacerbated by a global tech stock plunge, the biggest since March, which saw South Korea's Kospi index, a key indicator for the AI trade, dive 10%. Companies like Samsung and SK Hynix each experienced declines of over 12% on that day. The Nasdaq 100 futures also indicated further downward pressure, dropping 2.5%.
On June 26, 2026, Asian markets faced a mixed open following a volatile session on Wall Street. While resilient US economic data provided some uplift, renewed selling in megacap technology shares, exemplified by Apple Inc. sliding 6.1% after price increases on Macs and iPads, offset gains driven by Micron Technology Inc.'s bullish sales forecast. This volatility, coupled with concerns about rising semiconductor prices squeezing profit margins, continues to fuel uncertainty in the AI-driven market, leading to significant declines in companies like SoftBank Group, which plunged more than 11%, and other major Asian semiconductor firms such as SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, which fell by over 3% and nearly 3% respectively.
