South Korean shares start week lower on AI worries

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares started the week lower on Monday, tracking a slump in US tech stocks in the previous session on worries about AI investment, though losses were capped by dip buying.

The benchmark KOSPI was down 34.04 points, or 0.60%, at 5,634.01 as of 0153 GMT.

The KOSPI opened sharply lower and fell more than 3% before erasing losses to turn briefly higher.

The index logged its biggest weekly fall in 18 years last week on a slump in chipmakers as worries grew over the sustainability of AI investment Wall Street ended sharply lower on Friday, with CoreWeave, Broadcom and other AI-related technology stocks under renewed pressure, while a jump in oil prices spooked traders heading into the weekend.

“It is true that appetite is high for dip buying because semiconductor stocks are still in over-sold territory,” said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities Chipmaker Samsung Electronics was down 0.12%, after falling more than 3% earlier in the session.

Peer SK Hynix lost 3.22% Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 4.71%, while Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were up 2.40% and up 3.18%, respectively Steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 3.37%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics rose 6.70%.

Of the total 913 traded issues, 388 shares advanced, while 483 declined Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 38.3 billion won ($28.7 million).

The won was quoted at 1,334.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.15% higher than its previous close at 1,336.5 In money and debt markets, December futures on 3-year treasury bonds lost 0.01 point to 103.04.

The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 3.3 basis points to 3.849%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 0.7 basis points to 4.170%.