Seoul, Aug 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Seoul stocks extended losses on Monday morning as investors locked in profits from large-cap tech shares, including semiconductors.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 153.42 points, or 2.22 percent, to 6,759.53, as of 11:18 am (local time), reports Yonhap news agency.
After opening lower, the index came under selling pressure, as investors were disappointed over Samsung Electronics' shareholder return plan, Mirae Asset Securities analyst Kim Seok-hwan said.
The chipmaker announced a shareholder return plan targeting a payout of up to 110 trillion won (US$79.7 billion), including the distribution of cash dividends of around 30 trillion won in the third quarter.
Most market heavyweights, meanwhile, were trading lower.
Top-cap Samsung Electronics shed 7.28 percent, while rival SK hynix declined 0.64 percent.
Industry leader Hyundai Motor fell 1.08 percent, major bank operator KB Financial dipped 1.64 percent, and nuclear power plant builder Doosan Enerbility inched down 0.68 percent.
The Korean won was trading at 1,377.5 won against the U.S. dollar, as of 11:20 a.m., up 8.5 won against the U.S. dollar compared to the close of the previous stock market session.
After closing above 6,900 points on Friday, the index lost ground as investors locked in gains from large-cap chip stocks as they closely follow the upcoming earnings release from Nvidia for hints on the future direction of the artificial intelligence (AI) market.
Major stocks indexes on Wall Street closed higher last week despite a rise in U.S. government bond yields, as investors went bargain hunting. The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq both closed up 0.43 percent.
Investors are also keeping an eye on the Jackson Hole meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve as well as the upcoming policy meeting of the Bank of Korea this week.
—IANS
na/
Source: IANS
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz
This website uses cookies.
