KOSPI heads for seventh weekly loss as AI trade wobbles
South Korea's KOSPI is set for a seventh straight weekly decline, its longest losing streak since 2022, as AI-linked chip stocks remain volatile and foreigners keep selling.
South Korean stocks were trading lower on Friday, putting the benchmark KOSPI on course for a seventh consecutive weekly decline — the longest such streak since December 2022. The index has lost more than 5% this week alone.
Trading has been exceptionally choppy. The KOSPI jumped nearly 2% in the opening minutes before reversing course to fall as much as 2.2%, underscoring how fragile sentiment has become around artificial-intelligence-linked equities. By late morning, the index was down 0.7%.
The recent turbulence follows a period of record leveraged trading and heavy foreign outflows. The KOSPI has dropped 31% from its record close on June 22, though it remains about 47% higher for the year.
"The Korean market is still searching for equilibrium after an extraordinary period of volatility," said Jung In Yun, CEO at Fibonacci Asset Management Global in Singapore.
Foreign investors sold shares worth 585.2 billion won ($412.32 million) on Friday, extending year-to-date outflows to more than $115 billion, according to exchange data.
Chip stocks, the heart of the AI trade, remain the main source of swings. SK Hynix tumbled 5.8%, bringing its weekly loss to 18% — the steepest since August 2011. Samsung Electronics, by contrast, edged higher.
Elsewhere, Hyundai Motor fell 2.13%, while Kia Corp rose 0.67%. POSCO Holdings climbed 2.35% and Samsung BioLogics gained 1.65%.
The South Korean won strengthened to 1,417.7 per dollar, heading for a sixth straight week of gains. Investor positioning on the currency has turned bullish for the first time in over 10 months, supported by intervention and repatriation of proceeds from SK Hynix's ADR launch in the United States.
Oil prices extended gains on concerns over access to the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran reviewed a preliminary bill that would bar U.S., Israeli and other "hostile" vessels from transiting the strait.