Chipmakers drag South Korean shares lower; Samsung at more than 2-year low

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares fall as battery makers extend losses on Trump’s win

• South Korean shares fell more than 1% on Monday, dragged down by losses in heavyweight chipmakers amid worries about spill-over effects from Sino-US tensions.

• The benchmark KOSPI closed down 29.49 points, or 1.15%, at 2,531.66, its lowest level since Sept. 11.

• The US ordered Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co to halt shipments of advanced chips used in artificial intelligence applications to Chinese customers from Monday, Reuters reported, fuelling patriotic bets in China on tech independency. China is South Korea’s biggest trade partner.

• “The domestic chip stocks were weighed by worries about rising shares of Chinese firms in the legacy chip market and issues related to bringing in advanced equipments to factories in China,” said Park Kwang-nam, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.

• Chipmaker Samsung, struggling to supply high-end semiconductors used in AI chipsets, fell 3.51% to its lowest closing since Sept. 30, 2022. SK Hynix shed 3.94%.

• LG Energy Solution closed up 4.39%, after rising as much as 9.3% to a one-month high on media reports of a supply deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

• Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 536.2 billion won ($385 million).

• The won was quoted at 1,394.7 per US dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.16% higher than its previous close at 1,397.0.

• The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.7 basis points to 2.908%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 2.2 basis points to 3.039%.