Seoul market slides as Middle East tensions and AI cautions spook investors
South Korean equities fell sharply on Monday, with the KOSPI dropping over 2% amid worries about Middle East developments and warnings from AI executives.
On Monday morning, South Korea's stock market experienced a steep decline, with the KOSPI index down 151.27 points, roughly 2.19%, to 6,758.64. Investor sentiment was dampened by the postponement of expected Iran-Gulf negotiations over navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and by cautions from AI industry executives about the speed of technological progress. Leading semiconductor firms Samsung Electronics and SK hynix dropped 2.31% and 4.3% respectively, while battery producer LG Energy Solution slipped 1.11% and automaker Hyundai Motor fell 3.01%.
In contrast, defense heavyweight Hanwha Aerospace gained 4.07%. The Korean won traded at 1,344.3 per U.S. dollar, a modest rise from the previous close.
Why it matters
The drop highlights how geopolitical and tech-sector concerns can quickly affect South Korea's key equity market.
How this story developed
- Sep 3 Investors Need $25 million for Anthropic, about $1 million for OpenAI in secondary market
- Sep 9 Starting Monday, Korea Exchange will allow nearly all Kospi and Kosdaq shares to be traded after the regular 3:30 p.m. close, extending the session to 8 p.m. The change aims to capture European-hour activity and follows the Nextrade platform, which previously offered limited after-hours trading for about 600 stocks. Exchange-traded funds are excluded for now, and a pre-market session is slated for 2027. Officials say the longer window could improve market efficiency and give investors greater flexibility.
- Sep 13 Anthropic has moved to file its IPO prospectus in late September.
- Sep 13 Altman announced the IPO will not proceed in 2026.
- Sep 13 Korea Exchange moved from planning to piloting an evening trading session for about 2,400 stocks.
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