Börsen: Südkoreas Börse bricht wegen Sorgen um KI und Ölpreise ein

South Korea's stock market experienced a significant decline due to concerns surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and oil prices. The main index, Kospi, dropped over eight percent during early trade. Semiconductor producers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics also suffered substantial losses, with SK Hynix down 11 percent and Samsung Electronics 8 percent.

In response to steep losses, the Seoul stock exchange briefly halted trading for 20 minutes to prevent panic-selling, a measure known as a "Circuit Breaker." Investors reacted to losses on Wall Street, where worries about the future growth of investments in artificial intelligence weighed on the market. The Democratic Party's victory in the U.S. midterm elections fueled concerns about potential slowdowns in the expansion of data centers.

The need for heavy financing and potential environmental damage associated with new data center construction in the United States have increasingly faced opposition. Concerns over AI development and high oil prices deterred investors. Yonhap, South Korea's news agency, cited rising oil prices as another reason for the market plunge, following reports of Iranian attacks on additional tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

As an energy-poor industrial nation, South Korea relies heavily on oil imports from the Middle East. Its stock market is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in the AI sector due to the significant weight of the semiconductor industry. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index fell about 6.5 percent in early trade, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng index dropped roughly 1.3 percent shortly after market opening.

China's CSI 300 index, which tracks the 300 largest mainland China stocks, declined by approximately 1.7 percent.