Wall Street staged a much-needed rebound on Friday, softening what was otherwise a challenging week for most sectors. What does this mean for S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) tech shares?
The Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ: .IXIC) led the pack, running 2.32% higher while the S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) and Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX: .DJI) improved a respective 1.49% and 1.06%.
The strength of the US market, especially in the Nasdaq, could carry over to ASX 200 tech shares on Monday. Let's take a closer look.
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Will ASX 200 tech shares follow Nasdaq?
US tech mega-caps including Tesla Inc, Facebook Inc, Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Netflix Inc, Microsoft Corporation and Alphabet Inc all finished Friday's session between 1.90% and 3.50% higher.
This could see some life come back into the beaten up S&P/ASX 200 Info Tech Index (ASX: XIJ), which slipped 6.8% last week and is down an ugly 19.4% year to date.
The blame could be attributed to weakness in ASX 200 tech heavyweights including Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT), Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) and Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC).
Following the Nasdaq's bounce on Friday, investors are likely to be keeping a close on these ASX 200 tech shares today.
Could ASX 200 BNPL shares catch a break?
The buy now, pay later (BNPL) sector has come under relentless selling pressure of late with the likes of Afterpay breaking below the $100 level earlier this month and closing at an 8-month low of $86.35 on Friday.
Shareholders will be hoping the rebound in US tech and 11.64% surge in US-listed BNPL company Affirm Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: AFRM) will bring some strength back into embattled ASX BNPL shares.
PointsBet share price on watch
The PointsBet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) share price has struggled this month despite positive announcements from the company including a strong third-quarter update, the launch of its iGaming platform in Michigan and a small US$2.9 million acquisition.
Similar to the Affirm situation above, PointsBet's largest US competitor, Draftkings Inc (NASDAQ: DKNG) and key US partner Penn National Gaming Inc (NASDAQ: PENN) both jumped a respective 9.51% and 6.19% higher on Friday. Investors will be hoping this translates into gains for the PointsBet share price when the market opens this morning.
Foolish takeaway
After being major beneficiaries of the pandemic, ASX 200 tech shares have been struggling recently. If tech shares do manage a partial rebound on Monday, the question will be whether the move is just a one-off bounce or part of a broader recovery.
