Seoul's opening and the Kospi figures
Seoul's stock market started Thursday's session in negative territory, according to The Korea Herald. The benchmark Kospi, after opening with a 1.14% decline, at 9:15 local time stood at 5,710.98 points, down 24.68 points, or 0.46%. The movement follows the strong gains posted in the previous session, an element the source cites as context for today's pullback.
The factor investors are weighing, again according to the South Korean newspaper, is the profitability of investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. It is a concern that regards the economic sustainability of a sector on which the markets have placed big bets and which is now being called into question. The source does not specify which concrete elements have fueled this skepticism, nor does it indicate figures or assessments on the return on investment.
Wall Street mixed and the picture for stocks
Overnight, US markets closed mixed. Again according to the source's account, AI-related stocks rebounded after SpaceX's quarterly results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.69%, the S&P 500 gained 0.58%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.05%. The source adds that Meta Platforms, after publishing solid results, has strengthened its bet on the AI sector.
In Seoul, most large-cap stocks opened lower. Samsung Electronics, the market's bellwether stock, was up slightly by 0.34% after a negative opening, while chip-sector rival SK hynix lost 0.31%. Battery maker LG Energy Solution fell 3.65%, while Samsung Electro-Mechanics, a Samsung Group company active in electronic components, gained 4.79%. On the currency market, the won stood at 1,326.5 per dollar, strengthening by 0.5 won from the previous session's close.
What remains to be verified
The available material is limited to a snapshot of the opening and does not make it possible to establish whether the decline continued during the day or what lasting consequences it may have on the market's performance. The specific causes of the concerns about the profitability of investments in AI infrastructure are not indicated, nor is the exact link between SpaceX's results and the rebound in US tech stocks. It also remains to be clarified how much weight the individual corporate news items, from Meta to Samsung, had in determining investors' orientation. Finally, the source places alongside the market article other headlines on different subjects, from the South Korean central bank's rate pause to crime and entertainment news, which do not appear to be connected to the stock market data reported here.
