SEOUL, October 19 (AJP) -Wall Street jitters over debt-financed AI spending amid expectations of faster interest-rate hikes weighed heavily on Asian markets Monday, hitting chip-heavy Seoul particularly hard.
The KOSPI fell 3.2 percent at the open before foreign investors turned net buyers and helped halve the loss. They had sold more than 11 trillion won ($8.2 billion) of South Korean shares last week. Decliners outnumbered gainers 615 to 221.
The benchmark traded at 5,576.1 early in the session, down 91.9 points, or 1.6 percent. It had opened at 5,488.4, its morning low. SK hynix fell 3.2 percent to 1,231,000 won, while Samsung Electronics slipped 0.9 percent to 213,500 won.
Both recovered from sharply lower indications before the bell. Samsung Electronics had been indicated 5.8 percent below Friday’s close and SK hynix 6.8 percent lower.
Tokyo also came under pressure, with the Nikkei 225 down 2.3 percent at 63,831.8.
Back in Seoul, foreign investors bought a net 161.0 billion won of KOSPI shares and institutions purchased 201.2 billion won. Individuals sold a net 381.8 billion won. The foreign buying reversed last week’s pattern, when sustained selling of chipmakers helped drive a 14.5 percent decline in the KOSPI from Oct. 12 to 16.
The recovery remained uneven. Samsung Electro-Mechanics dropped 4.4 percent to 1,136,000 won, the steepest decline among the 10 largest KOSPI companies by market value. Samsung Biologics moved in the opposite direction, rising 3.9 percent to 1,348,000 won.
On Friday, the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.2 percent to 26,140.0, bringing its weekly loss to about 4.5 percent. CoreWeave, Broadcom and other AI infrastructure stocks slid amid concerns that rising interest rates would increase financing costs and strain heavily indebted data-center builders’ ability to service their debt.
Some analysts predicted bargain-hunting demand. Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, expected a volatile week but said Korean stocks’ steeper losses relative to other markets left room for a rebound. He projected a trading range of 5,200 to 5,900 for the KOSPI.
The KOSDAQ, home to smaller technology and biotech companies, opened 2.7 percent lower before paring its loss to 0.7 percent at 788.9.
The won strengthened 2.8 won to 1,335.2 per dollar.
AJP Takeaways
- Wall Street’s AI credit scare hit Seoul and Tokyo at the open on Oct. 19, but foreign buying in Seoul cut the KOSPI’s loss in half.
- SK hynix fell 3.2 percent in early Seoul trading on Oct. 19, more than three times Samsung Electronics’ 0.9 percent decline.
- Foreign investors turned net buyers on the KOSPI on Oct. 19 after selling more than 11 trillion won ($8.2 billion) of South Korean shares the previous week.
Tags: KOSPI, KOSDAQ, Nikkei 225, SK hynix, Samsung Electronics, SK square, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung Biologics, Kiwoom Securities, Nasdaq Composite, CoreWeave, Broadcom, Han Ji-young
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