Samsung and SK Hynix pace Seoul losses in broad regional selloff
Shares fell across Asia on Wednesday, with South Korea’s Kospi leading the regional retreat after AI stocks resumed their decline and Wall Street pulled further from its all-time high. The Kospi dropped 5.2% to 6,515.97, according to AP reporting from Bangkok.
Samsung Electronics and memory chipmaker SK Hynix — the two biggest South Korean beneficiaries of the AI boom — tracked losses for their U.S. rivals. Samsung shed 6.9%, while SK Hynix tumbled 7.9%.
Elsewhere in the region, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 sank 2.6% to 65,703.78. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.4% to 25,382.66, while the Shanghai Composite shed 1.5% to 3,927.70. Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1.4%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.4% to 9,083.70.
Two forces weighed on regional sentiment. Alongside renewed criticism that AI-related stocks have shot too high, rising oil prices also clouded the mood. Brent crude stood at $72.87 per barrel just before the start of the war, AP reported, and prices have swung sharply since amid uncertainty over whether the United States and Iran will reach a deal to allow oil tankers to exit the Persian Gulf freely again.