Asian stocks were on shaky ground on Wednesday, following steep losses in US and European equities on fears that advancements in artificial intelligence could supplant traditional software.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index opened 37 points, or 0.1 percent, lower at 26,797. The China enterprises index was 13 points, or 0.15 percent, down at 9,039 while the tech index was 47 points, or 0.9 percent, down at 5,419.

Across the border, the Shanghai Composite Index opened down three points, or 0.08 percent, at 4,064. The Shenzhen Component Index was 54 points, or 0.39 percent, lower at 14,072 while the ChiNext Index was down 0.8 percent at 3,298.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Nikkei opened 470 points, or 0.86 percent, down at 54,250 while the the Korea Composite Stock Price Index opened down 0.52 percent before getting into positive territory with gains of 1.16 percent, hitting 5,349 close to noon.

Oil prices climbed after US forces shot down an Iranian drone and armed boats approached a US-flagged vessel in a key waterway, while precious metals found a firmer footing after a recent rout.

A sell-off among US and European data analytics, professional services and software companies deepened after Anthropic's launch of plug-ins for its Claude Cowork agent on Friday sparked worries of an AI-fuelled disruption to those industries.

Selling pressure was, however, less acute in Asia, given the region's historical dominance in hardware manufacturing.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.2 percent.

Nasdaq futures slipped 0.25 percent after losing more than 1 percent in the cash session overnight, while S&P 500 futures were down 0.1 percent. Eurostoxx 50 futures dipped ‍0.07 percent.

"The AI trade is splitting between relative winners and losers," said Ben Bennett, head of investment strategy for Asia at L&G Asset Management.

"We ⁠saw that last week after Microsoft fell despite decent results on fears of disruption to its software business. And that software wobble has continued this week. So it's not simply that the tech sector is a universal winner – it's going to have some weak areas too." (Reuters/Xinhua)