South Korea shares on track for second weekly decline as chipmakers drag

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares fell on Thursday and were headed for a second weekly loss in a holiday-shortened week, hurt by weakness in chipmakers and inflation concerns fuelled by higher oil prices.

The won firmed, while the benchmark bond yield fell. The benchmark KOSPI was down 59.48 points, or 0.87%, at 6,744.42 as of 0058 GMT.

For the week, the index is down 3.71%. South Korean markets will be closed on Friday for a public holiday.

Chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 0.74%, while peer SK Hynix gained 0.29%.

Samsung Electronics on Thursday projected its quarterly profit would top 100 trillion won ($74.75 billion), a world first for a technology company, estimating a nearly nine-fold jump in third-quarter earnings as booming demand for AI chips drove strong memory sales.

The IEA said completing previously announced oil releases as quickly as possible could bring around 100 million barrels to market, although analysts and some governments said the figure did not necessarily represent a fresh intervention of that size.

Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 6.01%, while Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were down 3.13% and down 2.46%, respectively.

Steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 1.79%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics fell 3.45%.

Of the total 910 traded issues, 296 shares advanced, while 548 declined. Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 526.7 billion won.

The KOSPI has risen 60.04% so far this year.

The won has strengthened 7.5% against the dollar so far this year.

In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds gained 0.07 point to 102.64.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose 0.9 basis points to 3.954%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell 3.2 basis points to 4.359%.‑Reuters