SEOUL, December 08 (AJP) - Cautious mood overwhelmed the Asian market opening for the week as investors awaited the rate move and direction signal from the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting later this week.
South Korea's KOSPI is trading at 4,103 as of 11:00 a.m. Monday, unchanged from the end of last week.
Foreign investors, selling 278.7 billion won ($189 million), and institutions, selling 124.5 billion won, are driving the weakness. Retail investors are buying 399.1 billion won, looking for opportunities.
The dollar dropped below 1,470 won, driven by customary year-end dollar-selling for book-closing.
Samsung Electronics rose 0.8 percent to 109,400 won on expectations for the chipmaker to retake the No. 1 position in the DRAM market, given the bigger margin of rise in legacy chips. SK hynix slipped 1.29 percent to 537,000 won as its HBM-focused portfolio gives it less room to benefit from the mass-market DRAM upturn.
Nuclear power-related stocks are struggling. Doosan Enerbility is trading 4.3 percent lower at 77,000 won, and Korea Electric Power (KEPCO) is 2.1 percent lower at 51,100 won, driven by a combination of factors — the government’s earlier statement prioritizing renewable energy over nuclear power, and the view that the power efficiency of TPUs is up to four times better than GPUs.
Some companies are benefiting from favorable news. LG Energy Solution, the No. 1 secondary battery company, is trading 3.2 percent higher at 440,000 won, following news of a $1.4 billion electric-vehicle battery supply contract with Mercedes-Benz.
The KOSDAQ is 0.17 percent higher at 923. Its market capitalization briefly surpassed 500 trillion won in early trading before receding to the high-400 trillion-won range. Alteogen, the top market-cap biotech firm, is trading 2.2 percent higher at 466,500 won, reflecting expectations that its business momentum will improve after its decision to transfer its listing from the KOSDAQ to the KOSPI.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading 0.3 percent lower at 50,338.
Japanese GDP contracted 0.6% sequentially in the third quarter, worse than market expectations of a 0.4% contraction. The market is showing a mixture of anxiety about recession and hope that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet will implement stronger stimulus measures.
Toyota rose 0.59 percent to 3,050 yen and Nissan gained 2 percent to 378 yen, while semiconductor names weakened across the board with Advantest down 1.8 percent to 19,845 yen and Tokyo Electron down 1.35 percent to 32,690 yen.
Taiwan’s TAIEX is trading 0.45 percent higher at 28,106.
TSMC is leading the rally, trading 1.03 percent higher at NT$1,475, while MediaTek is 1.4 percent lower at NT$1,410, limiting overall gains.
Chinese markets show mixed results.
The Shanghai Composite Index is trading 0.15 percent higher at 3,908, and the Shenzhen Component is 0.36 percent higher at 13,194, helped by expectations of central bank stimulus.
In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index — more sensitive to global investment flows — is 0.35 percent lower at 25,995, weighed by the FOMC uncertainty and Japan’s GDP data.
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