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

"Crusoe Halts Data Center Project Work"

South Korea’s Kospi fell back below the 8,000 mark on June 10 as jitters over US technology shares hit investor 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 decline came amid renewed volatility in US tech stocks. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.97% in New York, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, or SOX, dropped 1.93%.

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

Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities, said uncertainty over the pace of the data center investment cycle had spurred profit-taking in AI and semiconductor shares.

Geopolitical risks in the Middle East also weighed on sentiment. The US and Iran have resumed armed 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. The exchange followed retaliatory US airstrikes on Iran after an Apache helicopter operated by the US Army crashed, with Tehran responding immediately.

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

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the market’s two biggest chip stocks, both 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, down 4.31%, SK Square, down 3.78%, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, down 2.34%, and Kia, down 1.58%. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries rose 2.61%, LG Energy Solution gained 0.63%, and Hyundai Motor added 0.47%.

The Kosdaq moved higher. As of the same time, the 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, while foreigners and institutions were net sellers of 91.6 billion won and 27.1 billion won, respectively.

The won opened weaker against the dollar. In Seoul trading, the won-dollar exchange rate opened 12.9 won higher at 1,525.0 won per dollar.

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