Asian shares step back from record as tech jitters return, bonds rally

Asian shares retreated from record highs on Friday as worries about shrinking margins in the tech sector hit the likes of Apple, driving investors into safe-haven bonds ahead of key US inflation data. Overnight on Wall Street, the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2% after Cisco Systems posted quarterly adjusted gross margin below estimates as costs of memory chips surged. That drove its shares down 12% and wiped out about $40 billion of its market cap. The selloff spilled over into tech giants like Apple, which tumbled 5% in the biggest daily drop since April last year when U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs spooked markets. Transportation companies also got caught up in worries about AI disruption. “The prevailing tone in markets is a rotation toward more defensive areas of the equity market and companies with steady, less cyclical and more predictable earnings,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.