South Korean shares turn lower as chipmakers fall ahead of earnings

South Korean shares turned lower on Monday, as chipmakers fell ahead of second-quarter earnings releases amid AI-related worries.

The benchmark KOSPI was down 50.65 points, ‌or 0.76%, at ⁠6,639.97 ⁠as of 0148 GMT, after starting the session higher to rise as much as 1.7%.

Chipmaker Samsung Electronics slipped 0.20% and peer SK Hynix lost 0.97%, erasing early gains. Both companies are scheduled to release their second-quarter results later this week.


South Korea announced $950 billion in new AI initiatives involving Samsung Electronics, SK Group and U.S. ⁠tech firms ‌on Saturday as global AI leaders rush to fill a shortage of faster chips to power and develop more ⁠advanced systems.

E-commerce firm Naver jumped 8.67% on U.S. chipmaker Nvidia's acquisition of shares worth $1 billion in the company as part of an investment partnership to build a new data centre.

Battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 0.30%, while Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were down 0.37% and 1.15%, respectively.

Steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 1.60%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics ‌rose 1.78%.

Of the total 915 traded issues, 504 shares advanced, while 368 declined.

Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 1.5 trillion won ($1.02 ⁠billion).

The won was quoted at 1,465.0 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.44% lower than its previous close at 1,458.5.

In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds gained 0.21 point to 102.81.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 7.4 basis points to 3.889%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 8.6 basis points to 4.368%.