South Korea shares slip as AI trade falters ahead of megacap earnings

LG Energy Solution

26/10/2026 03:45

KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers
Korean won strengthens against dollar
South Korea benchmark bond yield falls
SEOUL, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:  
** South Korean shares fell on Monday as concerns over the AI trade intensified ahead of earnings from megacap tech companies this week. The won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.  
** The benchmark KOSPI .KS11 was down 83.14 points, or 1.50%, at 5,467.16 as of 03:30 GMT. The index has risen about 30% so far this year. 
** Chipmaker Samsung Electronics 005930.KS fell 1.39%, while peer SK Hynix 000660.KS lost 0.47%.  
** Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution 373220.KS slid 1.70%, while Hyundai Motor 005380.KS and sister automaker Kia Corp 000270.KS were down 2.71% and down 1.78%, respectively.
** This week, about one-third of S&P 500 companies report quarterly results, including Alphabet GOOGL.O, Microsoft MSFT.O and Amazon AMZN.O, three AI hyperscalers whose capital spending forecasts will be closely watched on Wall Street.
** SK Hynix said it will announce shareholder return measures on Wednesday when the South Korean chipmaker releases quarterly results, responding to a report that it is considering a special dividend of about 16 trillion won ($12 billion). 
** Steelmaker POSCO Holdings 005490.KS shed 0.91%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics 207940.KS fell 0.34%. 
** Of the total 914 traded issues, 98 shares advanced, while 792 declined. 
** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 517.9 billion won. 
** The won was quoted at 1,322.0 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform KRW=KFTC, 0.32% higher than its previous close at 1,326.2. 
** The currency has strengthened about 9% against the dollar so far this year. 
** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds KTBc1 gained 0.09 point to 103.24. 
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield KR3YT=RR fell by 2.4 basis points to 3.792%, while the benchmark 10-year yield KR10YT=RR fell by 1.9 bps to 4.080%.

(Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)
((Cynthia.Kim@thomsonreuters.com; 822 3704 5655; Reuters Messaging: cynthia.kim.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net/))