South Korea shares retreat on AI concerns, set for longer trading hours
- The benchmark KOSPI was down 138.96 points
SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
South Korean shares fell on Monday after Anthropic PBC and OpenAI raised their voices to put the brakes on artificial intelligence development.
The won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.
The benchmark KOSPI was down 138.96 points, or 2.01%, at 6,770.95 as of 02:51 GMT.
Chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 2.12%, while peer SK Hynix lost 4.19%.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on AI companies to slow the pace of model development amid mounting fears of AI misuse, outlining a three-step framework to pace development and create more time to manage risks.
Starting Sept. 14, South Korea’s main stock exchange, Korea Exchange, will enable after-hours trading from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. local time, following a similar move by alternative trading system Nextrade, which introduced evening-hour trading in March 2025.
Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution slid 1.25%, while Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp fell 2.75%, and Kia Corp fell 1.90%.
Steelmaker POSCO Holdings shed 2.54%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics rose 1.20%. Of the total 913 traded issues, 332 shares advanced, while 539 declined. Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 2,284.8 billion won ($1.70 billion).
The won was quoted at 1,344.0 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.01% higher than its previous close at 1,344.1. The KOSPI has risen 60.67% so far this year.
The won has strengthened 7.1% against the dollar so far this year.
In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds gained 0.01 point to 102.66.
The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.8 basis points to 4.041%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 4.7 basis points to 4.524%.‑Reuters