South Korean shares tumbled more than 5% on Monday,
hitting their lowest levels in nearly two months, as a selloff
in chipmakers, led by SK Hynix, deepened worried over the
durability of the AI-driven rally.
The benchmark KOSPI was down 384.37 points, or
5.14%, at 7,091.57 as of 0235 GMT. It fell as much as 6.13% to
hit the lowest since May 20 and trigger a “sidecar” trading
curb, temporarily halting algorithm trading.
SK Hynix lost 10.32% as investors booked
profits after a high-profile U.S. listing saw the world’s
leading AI memory chipmaker surge 12.8% in its Nasdaq debut on
Friday. Peer chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell
6.14%.
“Despite a successful U.S. listing for SK Hynix, worries
about the memory chip cycle peaking have not been resolved,”
said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.
Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy
Solution climbed 2.61%, while Hyundai Motor
and sister automaker Kia Corp were up
0.11% and 0.20%, respectively.
Steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 1.59%, while
drugmaker Samsung BioLogics rose 2.44%.
Of the total 912 traded issues, 346 shares advanced,
while 543 declined.
Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 1.04 trillion
won ($690.73 million).
*The won was quoted at 1,505.6 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform, 0.47% lower than its previous
close at 1,498.5.
In money and debt markets, September futures on
three-year treasury bonds lost 0.11 point to 102.99.
The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield
rose by 5 basis points to 3.813%, while the benchmark
10-year yield rose by 5.1 bps to 4.275%.