Amid fears of an expanded U.S.-Iran war and a recurrence of the "TurboQuant shock," Korea's stock market opened lower on the 31st. The KOSPI plunged more than 3%, breaking below the 5,100 level.
As of 9:15 a.m., the KOSPI was down 3.75% (197.81 points) from the previous day at 5,079.49. The KOSPI opened at 5,143.75, down 133.55 points (2.53%) from the prior session.
The main board is being led by retail investors. Individuals are net buying 687.4 billion won, while foreigners and institutions are net selling 509.9 billion won and 198.2 billion won, respectively.
Market-cap leaders on the main board all flashed red. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are down in the 3% and 5% range, respectively. Hyundai Motor, LG Energy Solution, Samsung Biologics, Hanwha Aerospace, SK Square, and Kia are also falling. Only Doosan Enerbility is rising.
At the same time, the KOSDAQ was at 1,076.39, down 30.66 points (2.77%) from the prior session. The KOSDAQ opened at 1,099.08, down 7.97 points (0.72%) from the previous day.
The KOSDAQ is also being led by individuals. While retail investors are net buying 51.3 billion won, foreigners and institutions are selling 21.6 billion won and 23.9 billion won, respectively.
Shares of top market-cap corporations on the KOSDAQ are mixed. Sam Chun Dang Pharm is down 11%, while EcoPro BM, Kolon TissueGene, LEENO Industrial, and Peptron are also falling. Rainbow Robotics, ABL Bio, and LigaChem Biosciences are rising.
Overnight, New York stocks ended mixed. As the United States and Iran continued cease-fire talks, Wall Street opened higher on optimism but gave up gains as fears of escalation spread.
On the 30th (local time) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 45,216.14, up 49.50 points (0.11%) from the previous session. The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 fell 25.13 points (0.39%) to 6,343.72, and the Nasdaq composite lost 153.72 points (0.73%) to 20,794.64.
White House Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, "Talks between the United States and Iran are going well," while emphasizing, "If Iran misses this opportunity, it will pay a serious price." There was also word that U.S. ground forces had arrived in the Middle East in case the cease-fire talks collapse.
The TurboQuant shock has resurfaced. TurboQuant, released by Google Research, is a technology that can reduce memory usage to one-sixth. Analysts say it could affect artificial intelligence (AI) investment and demand for memory chips.
Micron and SanDisk tumbled 9.88% and 7.04%, respectively, overnight. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, composed of AI and chip-related stocks, plunged 4.23%, with all 30 components falling.