Seoul shares trim earlier gains late Thursday morning on retail selling

The benchmark KOSPI index is displayed at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap

Seoul shares trimmed earlier gains late Thursday morning on retail selling, though institutions and foreigners bought bargain-priced chip stocks following the recent massive sell-off.

After opening 3.3 percent higher, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) erased its earlier gains and moved up 150.61 points, or 2.08 percent from the day before, to 7,397.40 as of 11:20 a.m.

Despite the gains, investors remain concerned about renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, as well as uncertainty over the next phase of artificial intelligence (AI) demand, analysts said.

Overnight, U.S. stocks ended mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.09 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.2 percent.

Institutions and foreigners bought a net 985.8 billion won (US$655 million) and 144.9 billion won worth of stocks, respectively, while individuals sold a net 1.07 trillion won.

Tech stocks led the gains.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 1.8 percent, while chip giant SK hynix jumped 6.65 percent after reports that its U.S. listing was more than seven times oversubscribed.

Leading wireless services provider SK Telecom climbed 4.52 percent, and budget carrier Air Busan gained 7.5 percent.

Among decliners, top carmaker Hyundai Motor fell 2.38 percent, and defense firm Hanwha Aerospace declined 6.72 percent.

The Korean won was trading at 1,504.65 won per U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., down 2.25 won from the previous session.