
South Korean shares opened lower on Tuesday, with the KOSPI falling 0.6% to 5,733.57 as investors cashed in recent gains amid concerns over AI-related investments, despite overnight gains on Wall Street where tech stocks rebounded from weekly lows.
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The KOSPI had risen for two consecutive sessions after a sharp dip amid concerns over AI-related sectors, while U.S. technology shares had experienced their steepest weekly drop since June before rebounding overnight.
SEOUL, Oct. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korean shares opened lower Tuesday, weighed down by losses in major tech heavyweights as investors attempted to cash in recent gains amid woes over investments in the artificial intelligence (AI) value chain.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 34.44 points, or 0.6 percent, to 5,733.57 at the opening bell, bucking overnight gains on Wall Street.
The index has risen for two consecutive sessions after a sharp dip amid woes over AI-related sectors.
Overnight, U.S. stocks ended mixed as technology shares rebounded from their steepest weekly drop since June.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.07 percent, while the benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.41 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.11 percent to finish at 26,430.89.

A survey by the Korea Financial Investment Association shows 93% of bond market managers expect the Bank of Korea to keep its policy rate unchanged at its upcoming Thursday meeting, citing the need to assess the impact of two consecutive rate hikes in July and August. The bond market survey index rose to 99.1 for November, indicating slightly improved but still pessimistic outlook.

LS Eco Energy announced that it recorded sales of 351.5 billion won, operating profit of 22.2 billion won, and net profit of 14 billion won in the third quarter of this year on a consolidated basis. This is an increase of 51.0% in sales and 50.2% in operating profit compared to the same period last year, and both sales and operating profit are the highest ever in the third quarter. Growth was driven by the expansion of exports of power cables and bus ducts to Europe and North America, and bus ducts increased two to three times compared to the same period last year, thanks to investment in data centers and expansion of high-rise building construction by global big tech companies, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia. LS Eco Energy plans to build a large-capacity bus duct production facility at LSCV in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam and begin mass production in the second half of 2027 to expand orders from global big tech and strengthen profitability. In addition, in the rare earth metal business, LSCV began building a samarium metal production facility for defense industry last month and plans to begin mass production within the year.

Celltrion ranked first in Japan with Remsima market share of 48%, and announced that its flagship products have high market shares in Asian countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Malaysia. In Central and South America, the company secured a high market share in Brazil and Costa Rica, emphasizing its business growth strategy by expanding its global direct sales infrastructure.

On the 19th (local time), the New York stock market closed higher, with the Dow falling slightly, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq had difficulty with the rebound in technology stocks. In particular, semiconductor and AI-related stocks led the upward trend, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index turned upward after 9 trading days. However, caution regarding AI-related investments continues.

Lee Chan-jin, head of the Financial Supervisory Service, said at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee that it is difficult to fully apply network separation regulations to prevent AI hacking. It was emphasized that this would be the first case of holding a CEO responsible for a recent AI hacking incident in the financial sector.

Presidents of major commercial banks appeared as witnesses at the Financial Supervisory Service's audit of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee and apologized to the public for the recent hacking incident in the financial sector and promised to prevent recurrence. In addition, it was criticized for suspicions of manipulation of additional and preferential interest rates and governance issues.