South Korea stocks tumble over 6% as tech jitters return

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets: South Korean shares tumbled more than 6% on Thursday, weighed down by a global selloff in chipmakers as Meta Platforms’ plan to sell computing power raised questions over excess AI capacity. The won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose. The benchmark KOSPI was down 519. 03 points, or 6. 25%, at 7, 784. 38, as of 0103 GMT. The Korea Exchange briefly suspended programme selling by triggering a sidecar. Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 7. 71%, while peer SK Hynix lost 9. 34%. Battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 0. 43%. Meta Platforms is building a cloud business to sell excess AI computing capacity. Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were down 4. 10% and down 0. 99%, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings shed 1. 90%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics rose 0. 21%. Of the total 912 traded issues, 277 shares advanced, while 613 declined. Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 3, 174. 2 billion won. The won was quoted at 1, 554. 8 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0. 23% lower than its previous close at 1, 551. 2. In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1, 554. 7 per dollar, down 0. 3% on the day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1, 553. 7. The KOSPI has risen 84. 72% so far this year. The won has weakened 7. 4% against the dollar this year. In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds gained 0. 10 point to 103. 02. The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 1. 9 basis points to 3. 768%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 3. 8 basis points to 4. 195%. ‐Reuters

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