Kospi Falls Back Below 8,000 on US Tech Angst; Kosdaq Rises

"Crusoe Halts Data Center Development Work"

South Korea’s Kospi fell back below the 8,000 mark on June 10 as weakness in US technology shares hurt sentiment. The Kosdaq rose on retail buying.

As of 9:10 a.m., the Kospi was down 125.58 points, or 1.55%, at 7,971.35.

The drop came as US tech stocks turned volatile overnight. In New York, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.97%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, or SOX, lost 1.93%.

Investors were also unsettled by news that Crusoe, a US data center developer, had temporarily suspended work on a 1.8-gigawatt project in Wyoming.

“Uncertainty over the pace of the data center investment cycle is triggering profit-taking in AI and semiconductor shares,” said Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.

Geopolitical risks in the Middle East also weighed on investor sentiment. The US and Iran are currently engaged in renewed military clashes in the Strait of Hormuz.

CNN reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, said on its Telegram channel that it had launched missiles and drones at US targets in the region. Iran moved quickly after the US military carried out retaliatory airstrikes following the crash of an Apache helicopter operated by the US Army.

In the main board, foreign investors were net sellers of 543 billion won, while institutions sold a net 287.7 billion won. Retail investors bought a net 791.9 billion won.

The market’s two semiconductor heavyweights traded lower. Samsung Electronics fell 10,000 won, or 3.11%, to 312,000 won, while SK Hynix dropped 48,000 won, or 2.17%, to 2.167 million won.

Most large-cap stocks also declined, including Samsung Life Insurance, down 5.47%, Samsung C&T, off 4.31%, SK Square, down 3.78%, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, lower by 2.34%, and Kia, down 1.58%. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries rose 2.61%, while LG Energy Solution gained 0.63% and Hyundai Motor added 0.47%.

The Kosdaq moved higher. As of that time, the junior index was up 3.93 points, or 0.41%, at 971.74. On the Kosdaq market, retail investors were net buyers of 124.3 billion won. Foreign and institutional investors were net sellers of 91.6 billion won and 27.1 billion won, respectively.

The won opened lower against the dollar. In Seoul trading, the won-dollar exchange rate opened at 1,525.0 won per dollar, up 12.9 won from the previous session.

Lee Su, Hankyung.com reporter 2su@hankyung.com