KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers

Korean won weakens against dollar

South Korea benchmark bond yield falls

SEOUL, – Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares retreated on Tuesday, dragged down by heavyweight chipmakers as investors awaited Samsung Electronics’ earnings later this week, while Hyundai Motor hit a record high.

** The benchmark KOSPI was down 18.38 points, or 0.41%, at 4,439.14, as of 0130 GMT. On Monday, it jumped the most in nearly nine months to close at a record high.

** Chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 2.39% and peer SK Hynix lost 1.15%, after closing on Monday at their highest levels on record.

** Samsung Electronics is expected to flag a 160% jump in its fourth-quarter operating profit on Thursday, spurred by a severe chip shortage that has sharply driven up memory prices amid booming demand for artificial intelligence.

** U.S. chipmakers Micron Technology and Nvidia fell on Monday.

** “Upside will be limited today amid a wait-and-see stance ahead of Samsung earnings and profit-taking pressure after two sessions of a surge in semiconductor stocks,” said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.

** Hyundai Motor was up 0.66% after rising as much as 8.37% earlier in the session to an all-time high on plans to deploy humanoid robots at its U.S. plant. Sister automaker Kia Corp traded down 0.33%.

** Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 2.02%, while steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 0.33%. Drugmaker Samsung BioLogics rose 0.47%.

** Of the total 929 traded issues, 381 shares advanced, while 496 declined.

** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 716.0 billion won .

** The won was quoted at 1,448.4 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.19% lower than its previous close at 1,445.6.

** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.5 basis point to 2.928%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 1.4 basis points to 3.379%.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.