According to Yonhap, Seoul stocks turned lower Wednesday morning as investors dumped technology shares on concerns that heavy artificial intelligence spending may not deliver sufficient returns. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 376.01 points, or 6.24%, to 5,647.65 as of 11:20 a.m. after opening 1.09% higher. The Korea Exchange activated a sell-side sidecar for the KOSPI after the sharp decline, and program trading in KOSPI-listed shares was halted for five minutes around 10:55 a.m.
The sell-off followed Tuesday's 10.84% drop in the index to 6,023.66, driven by rising competition from China and heavy selling in AI-related stocks, including chipmakers. Overnight, U.S. markets closed mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.03% and the Nasdaq composite down 0.22%. Individuals sold a net 1.37 trillion won ($943 million) in shares, while institutions and foreigners bought a net 1.27 trillion won and 91.2 billion won, respectively. Samsung Electronics fell 5.45%, SK hynix slid 10.32%, Samsung Electro-Mechanics dropped 9.07%, LG Electronics lost 5.21%, Naver declined 3.1% and SK Telecom shed 4.99%. Among gainers, KT&G rose 2.04% and Samyang Foods jumped 7.86%.