Synopsis
On February 28, South Korea's stock market fell over 3% due to fears of a tariff war initiated by US President Donald Trump, alongside significant losses in AI chip firm Nvidia's shares. The local currency dropped to a three-week low against the US dollar, reflecting increased market volatility.Key Takeaways
- South Korean stocks fell over 3% due to tariff war fears.
- Nvidia's shares declined 8.5%, affecting market sentiment.
- The KOSPI closed at its lowest since February 10.
- Heavy trading volume with decliners outnumbering gainers.
- The local currency reached a three-week low against the US dollar.
Seoul, Feb 28 (NationPress) South Korean stocks plummeted more than 3 percent on Friday, influenced by the potential threat of a tariff war from US President Donald Trump and a downturn in shares of artificial intelligence (AI) chip leader Nvidia. The national currency dropped significantly, reaching a three-week low against the US dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell by 88.97 points, or 3.39 percent, closing at 2,532.78, following a 0.73 percent decline the previous day, according to Yonhap news agency.
This marks the lowest closing level since February 10, when the KOSPI settled at 2,521.27.
Trading volume was substantial at 573.3 million shares valued at 15 trillion won ($10.3 billion), with decliners significantly outnumbering gainers at 832 to 94.
The drop was primarily driven by foreign and institutional selling, which offloaded a net 1.5 trillion won and 615.9 billion won, respectively. In contrast, individual investors purchased a net 2 trillion won.
In the United States, President Trump announced intentions to impose tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada, reigniting fears of a global tariff war.
On Wall Street, Nvidia's shares fell by 8.5 percent as its surprisingly strong fourth-quarter earnings did little to boost investor sentiment regarding AI, which has been dampened by China's DeepSeek.
In Seoul, semiconductor and information technology (IT) stocks were among the hardest hit.
Samsung Electronics dropped 3.2 percent to 54,500 won, while SK Hynix, a major supplier to Nvidia, fell 4.52 percent to 190,200 won.
Leading online platform Naver saw a decline of 5.48 percent to 207,000 won, and its competitor Kakao decreased by 2.92 percent to 43,150 won.
Top battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution lost 4.99 percent to 352,000 won, and instant noodle producer Samyang Food slid 2.71 percent to 860,000 won.
Samsung Biologics, a biotech branch of Samsung Group, dropped 3.71 percent to 1.11 million won, while content production firm CJ ENM fell 2.1 percent to 60,700 won.
The local currency was quoted at 1,463.4 won per US dollar at 3:30 p.m., down 20.4 won from the previous session.
This represented the highest won-dollar exchange rate at 3:30 p.m. since February 7, when it was at 1,467.2 won against the US dollar.
Bond prices, which typically move inversely to yields, increased. The yield on three-year Treasuries decreased by 2.6 basis points to 2.566 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds fell by 3.4 basis points to 2.646 percent.
