KOSPI falls below 6,700 on AI growth, oil, rate concerns
The KOSPI fell below 6,700 Monday as concerns over a possible slowdown in AI development triggered heavy foreign selling, with high oil prices and elevated interest rates adding to investor unease. The benchmark index closed at 6,684.37, down 3.26 percent from the previous session. It opened 3.14 percent lower and fell as much as 3.69 percent to 6,654.82 in mid-morning trading but slightly closed…
The KOSPI index tumbled below the 6,700 mark on Monday due to worries about potential AI development slowdown, soaring oil prices, and high interest rates, leading to significant foreign selling. The index ended the day at 6,684.37, marking a 3.26 percent decline from the prior session. It opened 3.14 percent lower and dropped as much as 3.69 percent to 6,654.82 in the morning but managed to recover somewhat.
Foreign and institutional investors collectively shed a net 3.29 trillion won ($2.4 billion) and sold 1.17 trillion won worth of shares, whereas retail investors purchased a net 2.97 trillion won. SK hynix saw its share price drop by 6.35 percent, closing at 1,697,000 won, while Samsung Electronics declined 4.05 percent to finish at 249,000 won.
The debate surrounding the need to decelerate AI development progress stirred negative sentiment among investors, particularly regarding semiconductor stocks. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei suggested slowing down the creation of advanced AI models to allocate more time for implementing stronger safeguards, a suggestion that garnered backing from Sam Altman and Elon Musk.
Investors are apprehensive that a deceleration in the AI development race might adversely impact the sector.
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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- KOSPI falls below 6,700 on AI growth, oil, rate concerns koreatimes.co.kr
