(Updates prices before European open)

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Asian shares track Wall Street lower as tech battered

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Alphabet reports solid sales, but plans a lot more capex

spending

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Siver prices slump, Bitcoin hits lowest since Nov 2024

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Amazon ( AMZN ) earnings due, BoE and ECB to decide on policy

By Stella Qiu

SYDNEY, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Asian stocks slumped on

Thursday as concerns about the exploding costs of AI investment

encouraged a rotation out of tech, while a ‌renewed slide in

silver squeezed leveraged positions that were already under

water.

Google parent Alphabet reported solid results on

Wednesday, but it was targeting capital expenditure of $175

billion to $185 billion this ​year, sharply above analysts'

estimates. Shares swung wildly - down over 6% at one point -

before settling just 0.4% lower ‍after-hours.

Investors have been rotating out of technology giants and into

defensive stocks such as Walmart ( WMT ) ⁠amid fears of AI

disruptions to ⁠jobs. The recent selloff, triggered by a new

legal tool from Anthropic's Claude large language model, has

wiped out about $830 billion in market value since January ‌28.

Disappointing earnings results from Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD )

didn't help either, with ​the chipmaker tumbling 17%

overnight.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan

tumbled 1.8%, weighed by a 3.9% plunge in South

Korea's KOSPI. Taiwanese shares lost 1.1% but

financials and real estate outperformed.

Japan's Nikkei skidded ⁠0.7%, while healthcare, real

estate and utilities were all up.

"That ‍increase in (Alphabet) capex ​was absolutely enormous,"

said Tony Sycamore, analyst at IG.

"At a time when everyone is hyper-sensitive and

hyper-nervous about what's going on with the software companies,

with what's going on with CAPEX and AI valuations... I would

have ‍thought the reaction would be quite negative."

U.S. stock futures attempted a recovery early in Asia but that

quickly lost momentum. Both Nasdaq futures and S&P 500

were last flat, while EURO STOXX 50 futures

slipped 0.3%.

Bitcoin prices also tumbled 3.4% to $70,160, the

lowest level since November 2024.

Much attention is on Amazon's ( AMZN ) results later in

the day, as well as policy meetings from the Bank of England and

the European Central Bank where rates are expected to be on

hold.

SILVER TUMBLES AGAIN

Precious metals ​also dived ‍on Thursday to snap two days of

gains after an epic implosion last week saw them plunging from

lofty record highs.

Silver tumbled 13% to $75.5 an ounce, just a touch

above the recent low of $71.32. Gold also ​fell 2% to $4,862 an

ounce.

The risk-sensitive Australian dollar fell 0.5% to

$0.6965, while the Kiwi also slipped 0.3% to $0.5985.

The Japanese yen was steady at 156.82 per dollar,

after falling for four straight days ahead of a general election

on Sunday where polls are tipping a decisive victory for Prime

Minister Sanae Takaichi, endorsing her spending ambitions that

have raised concerns about the nation's strained finances.

In the Treasuries market, the benchmark 10-year yield

slipped 1 basis point at 4.2656%. The U.S. non-farm

payrolls report for January has been pushed back from its

scheduled release ​on Friday to February 11 due to a four-day

partial government shutdown that has now ended.

Oil prices fell about 2% on Thursday after the U.S. and Iran

agreed to hold talks in Oman on Friday, easing concerns that a

potential military conflict between them could disrupt supply.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate ‍crude fell 2.1% to $63.76

per barrel, while Brent crude futures also dropped 2.1%

to $68 per barrel.

(Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Stephen Coates)