FX.co ★ South Korean Shares Fall on US Election Fears

The benchmark KOSPI index fell 1.51% to around 5,563 on Wednesday, extending the previous session’s losses as weakening U.S. stock futures and uncertainty over the U.S. midterm elections weighed on risk appetite. The decline came after an initially positive session on Wall Street, where sentiment reversed when futures turned lower amid reassessments of a possible shift in the balance of power in Congress.

S&P 500 futures slipped 0.6%, Nasdaq-100 futures fell 0.5%, and Dow Jones futures also declined 0.5%. On the KOSPI, notable laggards included LG Energy Solution (-6.21%), Samsung Biologics (-2.0%), and Kia Corp (-1.60%). By contrast, chipmakers Samsung Electronics (+0.34%) and SK Hynix (+1.0%) posted gains, as did financials KB Financial (+0.92%) and Shinhan Financial (+1.64%).