South Korea shares open lower as Middle East tensions dent risk appetite
South Korea shares open lower as Middle East tensions dent risk appetite SEOUL, July 20 (Reuters) - South Korean shares opened sharply lower on Monday, with the KOSPI index plunging more than 3.5%, as escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East compounded a global selloff in technology stocks.
The benchmark KOSPI .KS11 was down 3.60% at 6,574.85 points, as of 1210 GMT.
The decline, driven by worries over AI overvaluation, severely impacted chip giants, with Samsung Electronics falling 3.92% and SK Hynix down 4.23%.
Amid broad-based market panic, automakers and battery makers also saw steep declines, highlighting a widespread retreat from risk assets.
Shares of Hyundai Motor 005380.KS and sister automaker Kia Corp 000270.KS were down 5.88% and 5.01%, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings 005490.KS shed 3.85%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics 207940.KS rose 0.72%.
Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 136.8 billion won ($91.90 million). The won was quoted at 1,488.3 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform KRW=KFTC, 0.15% lower than its previous close at 1,486.0.
($1 = 1,488.6000 won)
(Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
((Cynthia.Kim@thomsonreuters.com; 822 3704 5655; Reuters Messaging: cynthia.kim.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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