South Korean shares fall as US tech sell-off sparks profit-booking

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:  

South Korean shares fell more than 2% on Friday, as steep overnight losses in US technology stocks prompted investors to take profit after recent gains, though the market remained on course for a third straight monthly advance.

The benchmark KOSPI fell 149.83 points, or 2.38%, to 6,157.44 as of 0141 GMT, after rising for a sixth straight session on Thursday to a record high.

The KOSPI has risen 18% so far this month, after advancing 24% in January.

“We maintain a view that it is still an appropriate strategy to hold onto stocks, even at the current level of short-term acrophobia,” Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said, citing persist inflows of retail investors and constantly rising earnings forecasts.

Overnight, US stocks turned sharply lower, a day after earnings from artificial intelligence vanguard Nvidia failed to impress investors, dragging on technology shares that had powered the market’s recent rally.

Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 2.75%, while peer SK Hynix lost 4.28%.

Battery maker LG Energy Solution slid 0.59%.

Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia shed 2.63% and 3.83%, respectively.

Steelmaker POSCO Holdings eased 0.49%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics fell 1.02%.

Of the total 925 traded issues, 184 advanced and 721 declined. Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 3.8 trillion won ($2.64 billion).

The won was quoted at 1,437.3 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.27% lower than Thursday’s close at 1,433.4.

In the money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds gained 0.06 point to 105.53.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell 1.6 basis points to 3.044%, while the benchmark 10-year yield lost 4.9 basis points to 3.458%.