South Korea’s Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 3.52% Thursday, with Yonhap linking the retreat to profit-taking in chip shares after a rebound the day before.
Yonhap reported the index lost 201.8 points to finish at 5,533.77. SBS said it opened at 5,670.11, reached 5,740.28 and recorded a session low of 5,485.98.
A BlockBeats alert citing Bitget showed the index at 5,503.73, down 4%, during Thursday trading.
At the close, Yonhap reported Samsung Electronics down 4.03% at 214,500 won and SK hynix down 5.49% at 1.22 million won. Yonhap also counted 706 decliners and 174 advancers.
Yonhap also pointed to concern over investment across the artificial intelligence (AI) value chain. The decline followed Wednesday’s KOSPI rebound, which Yonhap said exceeded 3%. Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said the end of SK hynix’s buyback program “reduced a source of support for market demand.”
The Bank of Korea (BOK) said its Monetary Policy Board unanimously kept the base rate at 3.00% on Oct. 22. The central bank said it would weigh third-quarter GDP and October inflation figures as it considers any further rate increases.
