South Korean shares head for second weekly loss as AI stock selloff bites

By SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets: South Korean shares fell on Friday and were poised to log a second weekly loss as a selloff in AI-related shares drove investors into safer assets globally. The won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield fell. The benchmark KOSPI was down 118.59 points, or 2.14%, at 5,415.18 as of 01:38 GMT. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slid more than 1% on Thursday as growth stocks weakened after earnings from mega-caps Tesla and Meta failed to allay AI-related concerns, with a recovery in oil prices further adding to market unease. Shares of chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 2.80%, while peer SK Hynix lost 0.57%. Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution slid 1.79%, while Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were down 3.81% and 2.85%, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings shed 3.50%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics rose 6.47%. Of the total 912 traded issues, 95 shares advanced, while 793 declined. Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 589.3 billion won. The won was quoted at 1,322.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.29% higher than its previous close at 1,326.5. In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,322.1 per dollar, up 0.2% on the day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,320.8. The KOSPI has risen 28.50% so far this year. The won has strengthened 8.8% against the dollar so far this year. In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds gained 0.21 point to 103.29. The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 6.6 basis points to 3.774%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 7.1 basis points to 4.073%.