South Korea shares fall amid chip selloff

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares followed Wall Street lower on Tuesday as investors continued to sell semiconductor stocks globally ahead of Nvidia’s earnings report, amid doubts over profitability of the artificial intelligence industry.

The won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

The benchmark KOSPI was down 131.07 points, or 1.96%, at 6,565.89 as of 01:45 GMT.

AI chip leader Nvidia will release its quarterly results on Wednesday.

Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 1.95%, while peer SK Hynix lost 4.55%. Battery maker LG Energy Solution slid 3.04%.

Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were up 0.12% and 0.95%, respectively.

Steelmaker POSCO Holdings shed 0.31%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics fell 0.89%.

South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix’s union members narrowly rejected a tentative wage agreement on Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Hyundai Motor’s South Korean union said on Tuesday it has reached a tentative agreement with management, averting further production losses after staging its first full strike in a decade on Friday, following a series of partial stoppages.

Of the total 904 traded issues, 273 shares advanced, while 588 declined.

Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 1,925.5 billion won.

The won was quoted at 1,382.4 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.06% higher than its previous close at 1,383.2.

The KOSPI has risen 55.81% so far this year.

The won has strengthened 4.1% against the dollar so far this year.

In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds gained 0.02 point to 103.24.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield was flat at 3.836%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.7 basis points to 4.331%.