Seoul stocks down over 4% late Wednesday morning on tech slide
The screen shows the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at Hana Bank's dealing room in central Seoul as the market opened Wednesday. Korean shares opened more than 3 percent lower tracking an overnight slump on Wall Street sparked by concerns of an AI bubble. Yonhap
South Korean shares traded more than 4 percent lower late Wednesday morning, as big-cap tech shares slid, tracking an overnight slump on Wall Street sparked by concerns over an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had lost 182.64 points, or 4.43 percent, to 3,939.1 as of 11:20 a.m., retreating back below the 4,000 mark a little over a week after reaching the milestone.
Overnight, major U.S. indexes closed lower as blue chip tech shares, such as Nvidia and Palantir, lost ground amid concerns surrounding an AI bubble and remarks by Wall Street executives that the market may pull back for further development.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.53 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite shed 2.04 percent, and the S&P 500 went down 1.17 percent.
In Seoul, most big-cap stocks fell big.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics sank 5.72 percent, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix slid 5.8 percent.
Leading carmaker Hyundai Motor pulled back 4.17 percent, and defense giant Hanwha Aerospace contracted 6.83 percent.
Power plant builder Doosan Enerbility shot down 9.72 percent, and leading battery maker LG Energy Solution went down 3.07 percent.
Shipbuilders also lost ground, with HD Hyundai Heavy down 6.17 percent, Hanwha Ocean nose-diving 6.44 percent and HD Korea Shipbuilding falling 5.68 percent.
Electric equipment provider HD Hyundai Electric also tumbled 7.19 percent.
The local currency had been trading at 1,448.3 won against the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., sliding 10.4 won from the previous session.