Samsung Electronics drops 3.38%, SK hynix 4.45%

Caution over Jackson Hole speech, semiconductor tariffs offsets Nvidia boost

Kosdaq edges up 0.09%

The Kospi closed nearly 2 percent lower on Friday as shares of semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK hynix tumbled in tandem. The index finished the session down 123.49 points, or 1.79%, at 6,788.88. The Kosdaq swung between gains and losses during the session before closing marginally higher, ending up 0.76 points, or 0.09%, at 838.41. [Yonhap]
The Kospi closed nearly 2 percent lower on Friday as shares of semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK hynix tumbled in tandem. The index finished the session down 123.49 points, or 1.79%, at 6,788.88. The Kosdaq swung between gains and losses during the session before closing marginally higher, ending up 0.76 points, or 0.09%, at 838.41. [Yonhap]

The Kospi again fell short of breaking through the 7,000-point barrier this week, as it had the week before. After climbing to 6,912.37 on Thursday — buoyed by Nvidia's strong earnings — the index was dragged back below the 6,800 level on Friday as large-cap semiconductor stocks tumbled.

The Kospi closed down 123.49 points, or 1.79%, at 6,788.88. The index opened 65.83 points, or 0.95%, lower at 6,846.54 and briefly trimmed its losses to 6,901.78 in early trading. It failed to turn positive, however, and foreign investor selling intensified, pushing the index as low as 6,780.13 during the session.

Overnight on Wall Street, markets rose on the back of Nvidia's blowout results. Nvidia surged 8.74%, while the NASDAQ gained 1.57%, the S&P 500 rose 0.72% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.20%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also climbed 2.33%.

The domestic market moved in the opposite direction, however. Caution mounted ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's scheduled speech at Jackson Hole later that evening, and concerns over a potential expansion of US semiconductor tariffs weighed on sentiment, sustaining selling pressure from foreign and institutional investors. Analysts also noted that expectations for Nvidia's strong results had already been priced into domestic semiconductor stocks on Thursday, prompting profit-taking.

Foreign investors recorded net selling of 1.76 trillion won ($1.27 billion) on the Kospi on Friday, while institutions net sold 284.2 billion won. Individual investors net bought 424.2 billion won, though they had been net sellers through the early part of the week. Other corporations, meanwhile, posted net purchases of 1.62 trillion won.

The heavy buying by other corporations was driven in part by share buybacks at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. Samsung Electronics continued purchasing its own shares for employee stock compensation purposes, while SK hynix bought back shares for cancellation, making the other-corporations category a key source of buying support.

Among large-cap stocks, semiconductor names posted the steepest declines. Samsung Electronics fell 9,000 won, or 3.38%, to close at 257,000 won, while SK hynix dropped 77,000 won, or 4.45%, to finish at 1,653,000 won. Samsung Electronics preferred shares and SK Square also declined, by 3.86% and 3.75%, respectively.

Samsung Biologics tumbled 6.78%. Samsung Electro-Mechanics rose 2.60% and KB Financial Group gained 2.08%, while Samsung Life Insurance and Hyundai Motor edged up 0.98% and 0.38%, respectively.

The Kosdaq closed marginally higher, finishing up 0.76 points, or 0.09%, at 838.41. Foreign investors and institutions net sold 92.9 billion won and 3.5 billion won, respectively, while individual investors net bought 98.1 billion won.


kacew@heraldcorp.com