South Korean shares end lower as chipmakers drop on AI concerns

Kakao

31/01/2025 07:21

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      KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers
    

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      Korean won weakens against dollar
    

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      South Korea benchmark bond yield falls
    

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      For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N3OR01H
    

  
       SEOUL, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:
    
    ** South Korean shares ended lower on Friday, as major
chipmakers followed the slump in U.S. technology stocks during
the local holidays, with SK Hynix posting its biggest daily drop
in nearly six months. 
    ** The benchmark KOSPI  .KS11  closed down 19.43 points, or
0.7%, at 2,517.37, after falling 1.5% earlier in the session. 
    ** The KOSPI still ended the month higher with a 4.9% jump,
snapping a six-month streak of losses. It outperformed most
Asian markets this month. 
    ** South Korea's financial markets were closed from Monday
to Thursday for Lunar New Year holidays. 
    ** Earlier this week, U.S. chipmaker Nvidia  NVDA.O  slumped
more than 12%, as the launch of China's DeepSeek raised concerns
about growing competition in the artificial intelligence sector.
    ** "The local market priced in losses in U.S. tech stocks,
but the 'DeepSeek' shock is somewhat stabilising and unlikely to
be a major concern for the overall market," said Park Kwang-nam,
an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities. 
    ** SK Hynix, a major supplier of high-end chips for Nvidia,
slumped 9.86% to mark its biggest drop since Aug. 5, 2024. 
    ** Rival Samsung Electronics  005930.KS  fell 2.42% after
the company warned of sluggish sales of artificial intelligence
chips due to U.S. export restrictions against China.  
    ** Foreigners sold local shares worth 1.2 trillion won 
($826.14 million), their biggest daily sell-off since Aug. 5,
2024. 
    ** However, search engine Naver  035420.KS  and instant
messenger Kakao  035720.KS  jumped 6.13% and 7.27%,
respectively, on hopes of cheaper AI costs.
    ** Shares of Air Busan  298690.KS  fell 3.2% after a plane
belonging to the budget carrier caught fire earlier this week.
    ** The won was quoted at 1,452.7 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 1.47% lower than its previous
close at 1,431.4.
    ** The won firmed 1.3% against the dollar this month, its
first monthly gain since September 2024. 
    ** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield
 KR3YT=RR  rose by 0.5 basis points to 2.573%, while the
benchmark 10-year yield  KR10YT=RR  fell 0.8 basis points to
2.853%.

    ($1 = 1,452.5400 won)
    

 (Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((jihoon.lee@thomsonreuters.com;))