Samsung Electronics falls over 3%, SK hynix drops more than 4%

Middle East crisis keeps pressure on Korean stocks

Employees work at the dealing room of Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Monday. The Kospi fell more than 3% at the open, sliding into the 6,600 range in early trading. As of 9:02 a.m., the index was down 232.68 points, or 3.37%, at 6,677.23. [Yonhap]
Employees work at the dealing room of Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Monday. The Kospi fell more than 3% at the open, sliding into the 6,600 range in early trading. As of 9:02 a.m., the index was down 232.68 points, or 3.37%, at 6,677.23. [Yonhap]

The Kospi fell more than 3% at the open Monday, extending early-session weakness after news broke that a ministerial meeting among Iran, Iraq and Gulf states — aimed at addressing tensions over the Strait of Hormuz — had been postponed, adding to downward pressure on the market.

According to Korea Exchange, the Kospi stood at 6,677.23 as of 9:02 a.m., down 232.68 points, or 3.37%, from the previous session. The index opened at 6,692.61, a drop of 217.30 points, or 3.14%. It has now fallen for three consecutive trading sessions since Thursday.

The two semiconductor heavyweights also declined. As of 9:09 a.m., Samsung Electronics was trading at 251,000 won ($188), down 3.2% from the previous close, while SK hynix fell 4.6% to 1.727 million won.

The Kosdaq was also lower at the same time, down 16.80 points, or 2.05%, at 803.84.

The declines reflect the ongoing Middle East crisis, which has kept international oil prices and interest rates elevated. On Friday (local time), Brent crude futures for November delivery settled at $104.61 per barrel, down $3.02, or 2.81%, while West Texas Intermediate futures for October delivery closed at $100.05 per barrel, a drop of $2.43, or 2.37%.

However, the foreign ministers' meeting among Iran, Iraq and Gulf states — which had underpinned the oil price decline and the rebound in US equity markets — was ultimately postponed.

Iran had initially announced the meeting in a statement on Friday, saying the parties planned to "discuss and exchange views on the results of Iran-Oman negotiations regarding the designation of safe shipping lanes for commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, along with other regional issues."

Over the weekend, Bahrain announced it would not attend, citing Iran's attacks on Gulf infrastructure. Bloomberg and other international media reported that Saudi Arabia's participation was also uncertain due to Houthi attacks on the kingdom.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi announced on X, formerly Twitter, late Sunday that "in order to reach a consensus, the regional meeting scheduled to be held in Salalah on Tuesday has been postponed."

On the last trading day of the previous week, all three major US indexes rose together, rebounding after five sessions of losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.98%, the S&P 500 rose 0.86%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.96%.

Sentiment indicators for the Korean market also rose across the board, but because those gains had been partly premised on stabilizing oil prices and interest rates, their positive effect on domestic stocks Monday is expected to be limited.

The MSCI Korea ETF rose 3.25% and the MSCI Emerging Markets ETF gained 1.25%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index advanced 1.81%, and KOSPI 200 overnight futures rose 0.97%.


yuni@heraldcorp.com