Seoul Stocks Rebound at Open After Seven-Session Slide
South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI opened 1.8 percent higher on Friday, recovering part of the previous session’s steep loss as global markets stabilized, although pressure on technology shares and inflation concerns remained.
South Korean stocks opened higher on Friday, staging an initial rebound after a seven-session losing streak culminated in a market rout the previous day.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index began trading at 5,653.99, up 99.77 points, or 1.8 percent, from Thursday’s close. The advance recovered only part of the preceding session’s decline but signaled that selling pressure had eased at the start of the day.
Thursday’s sell-off had pushed the KOSPI down 454.59 points, or 7.57 percent, to 5,554.22. The index fell as low as 5,450.81 during the session, and the Korea Exchange temporarily halted trading after the decline exceeded the threshold for a circuit breaker. The drop extended the market’s losing run to seven sessions, its longest such stretch since September 2024.
Concerns about the durability of artificial intelligence-related investment and increasingly intense competition in memory chips weighed heavily on South Korea’s technology sector. Samsung Electronics lost 9.48 percent on Thursday, while SK hynix fell 11.06 percent. Foreign investors sold a net 3.62 trillion won worth of shares, adding to the downward pressure.
The Friday opening followed modest gains in the United States. The S&P 500 rose 0.33 percent and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.08 percent. Even so, major artificial intelligence and semiconductor stocks remained under pressure, leaving investors cautious about whether the improvement in broader indexes would translate into a sustained recovery for Seoul’s chip-heavy market.
Inflation and interest-rate expectations also remained central to the outlook. U.S. producer prices recorded their largest gain in four and a half years in September, reinforcing speculation that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates to contain inflation. Higher borrowing costs can reduce the appeal of growth stocks and increase financing costs for companies, making the issue especially relevant to technology valuations.
The early rise therefore represented a tentative stabilization rather than a full reversal of the recent downturn. With the KOSPI still well below its level before Thursday’s plunge and global chip shares under strain, trading later in the session was set to test whether bargain buying could withstand continuing concerns over artificial intelligence spending, inflation and monetary policy.