Seoul stocks end tad higher on bargain hunting

South Korean shares closed slightly higher Friday after plunging more than 3 percent in the previous session, as investors hunted for bargains in major chip stocks amid persistent concerns over investments in the artificial intelligence value chain. The Korean won strengthened against the US dollar.

After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 16.53 points, or 0.3 percent, to end at 5,550.30.

The index opened 2.36 percent lower, but individual investors, who were net sellers early in the session, turned to net buying.

Trade volume was light at 236 million shares worth 16.5 trillion won ($12.4 billion), with decliners far outnumbering advancers 716 to 173.

Foreigners offloaded a net 98.3 billion won, while institutions and individuals bought a net 86.8 billion won and 4.5 billion won, respectively.

Overnight, US stocks closed mixed, with losses in major technology shares weighing on the broader market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.02 percent, while the S&P 500 fell 1.21 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 2.6 percent.

Micron Technology plunged 6.26 percent, while Nvidia and Intel tumbled 4.4 percent and 8.04 percent, respectively.

In Seoul, most large-cap shares traded mixed.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics increased 0.47 percent to close at 215,500 won, while rival chipmaker SK hynix went up 4.42 percent to 1.28 million won after opening lower.

SK hynix pared its earlier losses following news that it had decided to suspend plans to list its US subsidiary, Solidigm.

AI investment firm SK Square went up 3.2 percent to 775,000 won following the news.

Solidigm sits within a multilayered corporate structure, with SK Square as the parent of SK hynix, which owns Solidigm.

The structure has raised concerns that a separate listing could exacerbate the so-called holding company discount, in which a parent company's stock trades below the value of its underlying assets.

"Concerns over AI investments stemming from the United States had already been priced in after Samsung Electronics and SK hynix plunged the previous session," Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said. "SK hynix, in particular, gained ground as sentiment improved somewhat following news that Solidigm's IPO plans had been scrapped."

The Korean won was quoted at 1,324.6 won against the US dollar as of 3:30 p.m., up 0.4 won from the previous stock trading session's close.