Europe Asia News

According to analysts, the UK’s FTSE Index is expected to open down 0.5 percent, Germany’s DAX Index down 1 percent, France’s CAC 40 Index down 0.8 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index is also expected to open with a similar decline.

The sharp declines expected in Europe on Monday come amid similar movements in global markets.

Asia-Pacific markets declined overnight, led by South Korean indices, as investors tracked gold and silver prices following sharp falls on Friday. Meanwhile, after weekend sell-offs, investors’ focus turned to Bitcoin, while US stock futures fell on Sunday night.

Asia-Pacific markets also fell on Monday as investors evaluated private data on China’s factory activity for January, while gold continued its losses from Friday.

The Kospi index fell by more than 4 percent, while Kospi 200 futures dropped by as much as 5 percent, and according to an official statement, the sidecar mechanism, which temporarily halts trading, was activated. Heavyweights SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics fell by 6.66 percent and 5.55 percent respectively, while the small-cap Kosdaq index lost 4.45 percent.

Bitcoin fell below $80,000 on Saturday for the first time since April. This is interpreted as a sign that investors are avoiding taking on additional risk following the sharp declines in precious metals on Friday.

Silver, which had more than doubled in value over the past 12 months, lost around 30 percent on Friday. This marked the metal’s worst daily performance since 1980. On the same day, gold also fell by around 9 percent.

Wall Street turned its attention to Nvidia amid questions surrounding the artificial intelligence boom. The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that Nvidia’s plans to invest $100 billion in OpenAI have been put on hold, as chipmaker executives have grown skeptical about the deal.

In Europe today, Julius Baer Group’s financial results will be released, along with data on retail sales in Germany and new car sales in Spain.