World Shares Mixed on Wall St. Losses  02/06 05:27

   World shares were mixed Friday after Wall Street extended losses driven by 
heavy selling of technology stocks. .

   HONG KONG (AP) -- World shares were mixed Friday after Wall Street extended 
losses driven by heavy selling of technology stocks. .

   The price of bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, appeared to have 
stabilized, rebounding from its biggest losses to trade about 7% lower at 
around $66,000. It briefly sank more than 12% to below $64,000 on Thursday. 
That's down from a record of above $124,000 in October.

   The future for the S&P 500 was 0.3% higher, while that for the Dow Jones 
Industrial Average was up 0.1%.

   In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.2% to 8,225.09, while Germany's DAX 
gained 0.1% to 24,527.18. Britain's FTSE 100 was little changed at 10,305.51.

   Most Asian markets declined, but Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 0.8% to 
54,253.68, recovering from losses earlier this week, with technology-related 
stocks leading gains. SoftBank Group rose 2.2% and chipmaker Tokyo Electron 
rose 2.6%.

   Shares have advanced on expectations that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will 
win a stronger public mandate for her policies in a general election on Sunday.

   Shares of Toyota Motor rose 2%. The carmaker said Friday its CEO Koji Sato 
will step down in April, and to be replaced by the company's chief financial 
officer, Kenta Kon.

   South Korea's Kospi lost 1.4% to 5,089.14, weighed down by tech shares. 
Samsung Electronics, the country's biggest listed company, fell 0.4%. Chipmaker 
SK Hynix also lost 0.4%.

   Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.2% to 26,559.95 and the Shanghai Composite 
index gave up 0.3% to 4,065.58.

   In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 2% to 8,708.80.

   Taiwan's Taiex was virtually flat. India's Sensex traded 0.3% higher.

   On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1.2%, its sixth loss in the seven days. The 
Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2% and the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.6%.

   Technology stocks were among the worst hit as concerns persist over whether 
massive AI investments by many of the Big Tech firms will pay off.

   Chipmaker Qualcomm sank 8.5% despite better-than-expected quarterly 
revenues. Alphabet lost 0.5% as investors were focused on its huge spendings on 
AI.

   Amazon fell 11% in after hours trading Thursday after it announced plans to 
boost capital spending by more than 50% to $200 billion in AI and other areas.

   American artificial intelligence startup Anthropic 's new AI tools also 
fueled the sell-off of software stocks on Wall Street this week, as its 
sophistication means many traditional software development services and 
products could be disrupted or replaced.

   Gold and silver prices have been volatile this week following a monthslong 
rally as investors moved into safe haven assets prompted by factors including 
elevated geopolitical tensions. The price of gold fell less than 0.1% on Friday 
to about $4,880 per ounce, after nearing $5,600 last week.

   The price of silver sank 4.5% to $73.30 per ounce after rising earlier this 
week. It lost more than 31% a week earlier.

   In other dealings early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 41 cents to 
$63.70 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 38 cents to 
$67.93 a barrel.

   The U.S. dollar fell to 156.94 Japanese yen from 157.04 yen. The euro was 
trading at $1.1796, up from $1.1779.