SEOUL: South Korean shares fell sharply, extending losses into a third straight session on Wednesday, hit by volatility in chipmaker stocks over AI worries and growing concerns about risky investment products.
The benchmark KOSPI was down 395.76 points, or 5.17%, at 7,260.55 as of 0519 GMT. That means it has dropped more than 20% from a record close of 9,114.55 hit on June 22, a threshold commonly consideredto confirm that a market is in bearish territory.
It was a choppy session, with the index opening lower but rebounding to rise as much as 1.8% before turning down again to fall as much as 6.1%, triggering a "sidecar" trading curb that temporarily halted algorithmic trading.
Chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 6.25% and peer SK Hynix lost 3.59%, after U.S. semiconductor stocks slumped overnight, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropping 4.7% as investors questioned whether AI-related spending could be sustained.
"There seems to be spill-over effects from a slump in the previous session, which came despite Samsung Electronics' strong earnings, while there are worries about a slowdown in memory price growth and uncertainty over an earnings 'peak-out,'" said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.
South Korea's Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol pledged to closely monitor risk factors that could heighten stock market volatility, on worries about recently introduced single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to chipmaker stocks.
On Tuesday, the KOSPI fell 4.9%, after triggering a circuit breaker for the sixth time this year, and the 12th in history, as sharp swings in heavyweight chip stocks heightened market volatility.
"Supply-demand dynamics of the dollar-won market are expected to shift in the second half," Deputy Finance Minister Moon Ji-sung said, adding that pressure from foreign investor profit taking and rebalancing should ease going forward.
Moon pointed to won demand from an upcoming U.S. share sale by SK Hynix, set to be one of the world's largest new share sales.
Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 487 billion won ($323.18 million), comparably smaller than their recent daily selloff in trillion-won figures.
The won was quoted 0.5% higher at 1,508.4 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, after touching 1,505.2 per dollar, its strongest level since June 15 earlier in the day. - Reuters
