South Korean shares plunged more than 3 percent Thursday as investors took profits on major chip shares following a rebound in the previous session, amid concerns over investments in the artificial intelligence value chain. The Korean won strengthened against the US dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 201.8 points, or 3.52 percent, to 5,533.77.
The index opened down 1.14 percent before briefly turning positive to reach an intraday high of 5,740.28. It soon resumed its decline, with losses deepening sharply.
The KOSPI had rebounded more than 3 percent in the previous session, recovering from steep losses as semiconductor shares rallied.
Overnight, US stocks closed mixed as AI-related shares rebounded following SpaceX's quarterly results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.69 percent, while the S&P 500 gained 0.58 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.05 percent.
After delivering sound earnings, Meta Platforms boosted its bet on the AI sector.
"Although Meta and Tesla reported earnings that exceeded market expectations, their results failed to ease concerns over profitability amid massive AI investments," Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said.
"The KOSPI's losses widened as the end of SK hynix's share buyback program reduced a source of support for market demand," he added.
Trade volume was light at 201.17 million shares worth 13.7 trillion won ($10.4 billion), with decliners far outnumbering advancers 706 to 174.
Foreigners and individuals bought a net 6.1 billion won and 38.1 billion won, respectively, while institutions offloaded a net 46.3 billion won.
Market heavyweights fell across the board, led by a sharp sell-off in technology shares.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 4.03 percent to close at 214,500 won, while rival chipmaker SK hynix declined 5.49 percent to 1.22 million won.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an electronics component affiliate of Samsung Electronics, went down 1.97 percent to 1.15 million won after opening higher on news of its partnership with Nvidia.
The Korean won was quoted at 1,324.2 won against the US dollar as of 3:30 p.m., up 1 won from the previous stock trading session's close. (Yonhap)