Seoul Stocks Open Lower as Investors Await Nvidia Earnings and Key Central Bank Meetings
Key Takeaways
- •The KOSPI dropped 0.73 percent to 6,862.18 in the first minute of Monday trading.
- •Investors were focused on Nvidia’s upcoming earnings, along with the Jackson Hole symposium and the Bank of Korea’s policy meeting later this week.
- •Nvidia’s results are viewed in Seoul as a key indicator of demand for AI memory chips, especially for SK hynix and Samsung Electronics.
- •Samsung Electronics fell 5.33 percent, while SK hynix rose 2.02 percent in early trading.
- •The Korean won traded at 1,383.8 won against the US dollar, up 2.2 won from the previous session.
Seoul stocks opened lower Monday as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of major events, including the upcoming earnings release from US chip giant Nvidia.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 0.73 percent, or 50.77 points, to 6,862.18 in the first minute of trading.
After closing above 6,900 points on Friday, the index gave up ground as investors locked in gains from large-cap chip stocks while closely watching Nvidia’s earnings for clues on the future direction of the artificial intelligence market. Nvidia’s numbers carry particular weight in Seoul: SK hynix supplies the high-bandwidth memory chips used in Nvidia’s AI accelerators, and crosstown rival Samsung Electronics competes in the same market, so the results are widely read as a gauge of memory chip demand, a heavyweight segment of the local bourse.
Major stock indexes on Wall Street ended higher last week despite a rise in US government bond yields, as investors went bargain hunting. The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq both gained 0.43 percent.
Investors are also watching the Jackson Hole meeting of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Korea’s policy meeting later this week. The Jackson Hole gathering is the Fed’s annual economic symposium in Wyoming, where the chair’s keynote speech has historically been used to telegraph the direction of US monetary policy, while the Bank of Korea’s meeting will determine the stance of the country’s benchmark interest rate.
Market heavyweights were trading mixed.
Samsung Electronics fell 5.33 percent, while its industry rival SK hynix rose 2.02 percent.
Top automaker Hyundai Motor edged up 0.24 percent and defense giant Hanwha Aerospace advanced 1.84 percent, while KB Financial declined 2.43 percent.
The Korean won was quoted at 1,383.8 won against the US dollar, up 2.2 won from the previous stock trading session’s close. (Yonhap)
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