A round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean shares rebounded from a six-month closing low on Friday on dip buying but remained on track for their biggest weekly loss in 18 years on AI worries.
** The benchmark KOSPI was up 131.07 points, or 2.36%, at 5,685.29, as of 0200 GMT.
** On Thursday, the index fell nearly 8% to close at the lowest since April 7, as doubts grew over the sustainability of the global AI investment boom. The index extended losses to a seventh straight session, the longest run of daily losses since September 2024.
** The index has fallen 14.3% so far this week, heading for a third consecutive weekly decline and the biggest weekly loss since October 2008.
** “Past cases of seven consecutive sessions of losses suggest much higher expected value for technical reversal than risk of additional decline,” said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.
** South Korea’s finance ministry said it would step up financial market monitoring and closely watch for any impact of recent stock market volatility on bond, foreign exchange and short-term money markets.
** Chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 1.90%, while peer SK Hynix gained 1.82%.
** Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 0.62%, while Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were up 6.77% and 5.52%, respectively.
** Steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 2.74%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics rose 4.33%.
** Of the total 914 traded issues, 768 shares advanced, while 124 declined.
** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 307.8 billion won ($228.77 million).
** The won was quoted at 1,346.1 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.30% lower than its previous close at 1,342.0.
** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds gained 0.01 point to 102.96.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.8 basis point to 3.877%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 0.3 basis point to 4.205%.
($1 = 1,345.4700 won)