Kospi Opens Lower as Oil Surges, US Yields Rise; Chip Stocks Drop 4%

The Kospi traded lower early Friday as surging oil prices and rising US Treasury yields weighed on investor sentiment. Selling was concentrated in large semiconductor stocks, which are sensitive to interest rates.

As of 9:07 a.m. on September 11, Samsung Electronics was down 3.81% from the previous session at 258,750 won. SK Hynix fell 4.05% to 1,778,000 won. Other semiconductor-related shares also weakened, with Samsung Electronics preferred shares down 4.29% and SK Square off 4.93%.

Domestic equities came under pressure after both oil prices and US Treasury yields jumped overnight. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery rose 6.69% on September 10 to settle at $102.48 a barrel. Brent crude for November delivery gained 6.34% to $107.63 a barrel.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note climbed above 4.95% during trading, reaching its highest level since October 2023. At the same time, the US producer price index for August remained elevated, reviving the possibility of another benchmark interest-rate increase at the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Export data, however, remained firm. The Korea Customs Service said exports for September 1-10 totaled $35 billion, up 82.6% from a year earlier and the highest ever for the period.

Semiconductor exports surged 270.1% to $16.483 billion. Their share of total exports also widened to 47.1%, up 23.9 percentage points from a year earlier.