Seoul shares extend losses late Monday morning on tech sell-off

Seoul shares continued to slide on Monday morning, with technology stocks taking the brunt of the decline as investors grappled with rising oil prices and mounting Middle East tensions that heightened inflation worries. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), a key market benchmark, slipped 150.98 points, or 2.28 percent, to 6,474.95 by 9:15 a.m., extending its opening loss of 0.72 percent.

Foreign investors dumped stocks, with foreigners selling a net 699.27 billion won ($524 million) worth of shares. Meanwhile, domestic investors, both institutions and individual traders, made a net gain of 3.25 billion won and 441.74 billion won, respectively. This selling pressure persisted despite positive sentiment on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.83 percent and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.64 percent.

The downward trend was primarily driven by the tech sector, with major South Korean conglomerate Samsung Electronics experiencing a 2 percent drop. The situation was exacerbated by the surge in oil prices, triggered by renewed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia's primary airport over the weekend. Such unrest could potentially disrupt global energy supplies, exacerbate inflationary pressures, and compel the Federal Reserve to pursue rate hikes, further weighing on markets.