Seoul shares open sharply lower on US tech sell-off
Seoul shares opened sharply lower Wednesday, following overnight losses on Wall Street, as rising bond yields and oil prices weighed on technology stocks and dampened investor sentiment. After opening 4.96 percent lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 453.77 points, or 6.61 percent, to 6,416.06 as of 09:15 a.m. Shortly after the opening bell, program trading for the…
Seoul's stock market opened significantly lower on Wednesday, following a decline in U.S. technology shares on Wall Street. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), which serves as the market benchmark, dropped 6.61 percent, or 453.77 points, reaching a level of 6,416.06 by 09:15 a.m. Shortly after the market opened, program trading for KOSPI-listed shares was halted for five minutes as the Korea Exchange (KRX) activated a sell-side sidecar.
This mechanism is set into motion when the KOSPI 200 Futures Index declines by 5 percent or more within a single minute.
The decline in the U.S. stock market was attributed to ongoing peace negotiations between the United States and Iran, which weighed on investor sentiment and contributed to a rise in oil prices. On Wall Street, major indexes closed with losses – the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.22 percent, while the S&P 500 experienced a loss of 0.69 percent. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index also declined by 1.33 percent.
In Seoul, tech stocks were particularly affected by the broader market downturn.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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- Seoul shares open sharply lower on US tech sell-off koreatimes.co.kr