SEOUL, August 04 (AJP) - Korean shares diverged sharply Tuesday morning, with the benchmark KOSPI slipping as heavyweight semiconductor and automobile stocks declined, while the tech-heavy KOSDAQ surged 5 percent on institutional buying and gains in biotechnology and optical communications shares.
As of 10:30 a.m., the KOSPI stood at 6,217.20, down 0.6 percent from the previous session. The index moved between an intraday high of 6,389.40 and a low of 6,080.30.
Retail investors bought 426 billion won ($299 million) worth of shares, while foreign investors purchased 226.6 billion won. Institutions sold 706.2 billion won.
Samsung Electronics fell 2.3 percent to 234,000 won, while SK hynix declined 2.7 percent to 1,524,000 won.
SK hynix said it and U.S. storage company SanDisk had unveiled the first standard specifications for high-bandwidth flash, or HBF, at the Future of Memory and Storage 2026 conference in California.
The standard supports eight- and 16-layer NAND structures with capacities of up to 512 gigabytes and data-transfer speeds ranging from about 0.4 terabytes to 3 terabytes per second. It uses the Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express interface to connect with processors including graphics and central processing units.
Automobile stocks also weakened. Hyundai Motor fell 3.2 percent to 380,500 won, while Hyundai Mobis dropped 4.5 percent to 471,500 won.
Naver surged 9.9 percent to 228,000 won amid reports that the company was preparing to establish a new operator for an artificial intelligence factory and had outlined the business structure for the first phase of a 200-megawatt project.
SK Eternix jumped 22 percent to 56,800 won, while SK Telecom climbed 12.2 percent to 92,000 won.
The KOSDAQ stood at 773.96 at 10:30 a.m., up 5 percent. The index traded between an intraday high of 774.93 and a low of 748.20.
Institutions bought 254.4 billion won worth of KOSDAQ shares. Retail investors sold 85.5 billion won, while foreign investors offloaded 166.1 billion won.
Internet and catalog retailing shares rose 10.21 percent. Silicon2 advanced 12.03 percent, while Gradient gained 3.59 percent.
Biotechnology stocks climbed 9.4 percent. AbClon surged 23.23 percent and Rznomics rose 22.2 percent.
Optical communications shares gained 9 percent, with Raicom jumping 28.6 percent and RF Materials advancing 20.8 percent.
Immuno-oncology stocks rose 8.1 percent. Qriant surged 29.9 percent, while AbClon gained more than 23 percent.
Among other KOSDAQ stocks, Taihan Fiberoptics rose 8.5 percent to 10,040 won and Winix gained 7 percent to 6,270 won. ICH dropped 9.7 percent to 906 won, while Deepnoid fell 3.3 percent to 1,546 won.
U.S. stocks closed sharply higher overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.32 percent to a record 53,178.41, while the S&P 500 gained 1.48 percent to 7,600.50. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.13 percent to 25,913.90.
U.S. Treasury yields declined, with the two-year yield falling 5.4 basis points to 4.237 percent and the 10-year yield dropping 5.9 basis points to 4.676 percent.
Oil prices rebounded modestly during Asian trading after sharp overnight losses triggered by renewed hopes for a diplomatic easing between the United States and Iran. Expectations that talks could lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz reduced concerns over disruptions to global crude shipments. Supply conditions also improved as Kazakhstan resumed exports through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium and Turkey and Iraq extended a major pipeline agreement. West Texas Intermediate crude had settled 5.11 percent lower at $80.34 a barrel, while Brent crude rose 0.7 percent to $84.36 in the previous session. WTI rose 0.7 percent to $80.90 during Asian trading Tuesday morning.
The Korean won strengthened by 6.6 won, or 0.5 percent, to 1,424.2 won against the U.S. dollar.
Moreover, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.9 percent to 63,206.08. China’s Shanghai Composite edged up 0.04 percent to 3,811.30, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was nearly unchanged, rising 0.01 percent to 26,012.10.
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