South Korea’s KOSPI erased a 3.17% opening loss on Oct. 19 to close 1.76% higher, reversing the early pressure that followed a sell-off in U.S. technology shares.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index opened at 5,488.41, down 179.64 points from its previous close of 5,668.05. The early drop below 5,600 gave way to a finish at 5,768.01, up 99.96 points for the session. By an early morning reading, the index had already narrowed its loss to 1.69%.
Yonhap News Agency reported that institutional investors bought a net 574.66 billion won in shares, while retail investors sold a net 1.09 trillion won. The reported flows show the direction of each group’s trading during the session, but do not establish investors’ gains or losses.
The weak open also reached South Korea’s major chipmakers. Samsung Electronics was down 1.28% and SK hynix 2.83% in early trading, Yonhap reported. Those figures were recorded before the KOSPI’s recovery and do not describe the shares’ closing moves.
The reversal followed a 2.05% gain on Oct. 16 that ended a seven-session KOSPI losing streak. The index had fallen 6.3% during that stretch, according to Yonhap.
In the Oct. 16 U.S. session, the Nasdaq Composite fell 572.99 points, or 2.14%, to 26,140.03, Nasdaq’s index record shows. In a weekly analysis, Nasdaq Economic Institute economist Michael Normyle listed doubts about the finances of some AI infrastructure businesses among several pressures on technology shares. His analysis did not identify the cause of any particular trade in Seoul.
The next scheduled company updates include third-quarter results from Meta Platforms and Tesla on Oct. 21, after the U.S. market closes. Meta has set an earnings call for 4:30 p.m. ET, and Tesla has scheduled a webcast for 5:30 p.m. ET.
