The session
The Seoul stock exchange closed Thursday's session with a decline of more than 3 percent, according to The Korea Herald. The benchmark KOSPI lost 201.8 points, equal to 3.52 percent, falling to 5,533.77. The day had begun down 1.14 percent; the index then turned into positive territory, touching an intraday high of 5,740.28 before resuming its decline, with losses deepening during the session.
The decline follows a rebound of more than 3 percent in the previous session, when semiconductor stocks had been the very stocks supporting the market. The source attributes today's move to profit-taking in major chip stocks, amid concerns about investments across the artificial intelligence value chain.
Stocks and flows
The selling hit large-cap stocks across the board, with technology shares at the forefront. Samsung Electronics fell 4.03 percent to close at 214,500 won, while SK hynix dropped 5.49 percent to 1.22 million won. Samsung Electro-Mechanics lost 1.97 percent to 1.15 million won, after opening higher on news of a partnership with Nvidia.
On the flows side, volumes were contained: 201.17 million shares traded for a value of 13.7 trillion won, about 10.4 billion dollars, with 706 stocks down against 174 up. Foreign and individual investors bought a net 6.1 billion and 38.1 billion won, respectively, while institutions sold a net 46.3 billion won.
The international backdrop and the explanations
The source reports that overnight U.S. markets closed mixed, with AI-related stocks recovering after SpaceX's quarterly results. The Dow Jones gained 0.69 percent, the S&P 500 0.58 percent and the Nasdaq Composite 1.05 percent. Meta Platforms, after results described as solid, increased its commitment to the AI sector.
Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said that although Meta and Tesla reported earnings above expectations, these results did not dispel concerns about profitability in the face of massive AI investments. The same analyst indicated that the widening losses of the KOSPI were also linked to the end of SK hynix's share buyback program, which had been reducing support for market demand.
On the currency front, the won was quoted at 1,324.2 per dollar at 15:30, strengthening by 1 won from the close of the previous stock-market session. On the basis of the available material alone, it remains to be seen whether today's correction reflects a change in trend or a pause after the previous session's rebound.
