Seoul: South Korean stocks opened sharply lower Wednesday on concerns over a bubble in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector and heightened uncertainties ahead of the upcoming Jackson Hole meeting. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 51.01 points, or 1.62 percent, to 3,100.55 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
According to Yonhap News Agency, overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed 1.46 percent lower and the S and P 500 shed 0.59 percent amid heightened caution ahead of the Jackson Hole economic policy symposium, slated for Friday (U.S. time), where Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will make a speech on his outlook for the economy. Investors' sentiment was also dampened after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned that the AI market may be in a bubble like the dot-com bubble during the late 1990s, which led to a stock market crash in the early 2000s.
In Seoul, top-cap shares started weak. Tech giant Samsung Electronics edged down 0.14 percent, and its rival SK hynix slid 3.61 percent. Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution lost 1.56 percent and major bio firm Samsung Biologics went down 0.78 percent. Leading nuclear power plant builder Doosan Enerbility shot down 8.4 percent and shipbuilding giant Hanwha Ocean pulled back 2.64 percent.
IT was also sluggish, with internet portal operator Naver retreating 2 percent and Kakao, the operator of the country's top mobile messenger, dipping 3.37 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,396.0 won against the greenback at 9:15 a.m., down 5.1 won from the previous session.