FX.co ★ South Korean Shares Edge Lower on AI Concerns

The benchmark KOSPI slipped to around 5,660 on Monday, erasing gains from the previous session, as renewed concerns over AI-related investment pressured semiconductor stocks amid a broader US tech sell-off. Samsung Electronics fell more than 2%, with notable declines also seen in SK Square (-2.6%), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (-4.7%), Doosan Enerbility (-1.2%), Shinhan Financial Group (-1.4%), HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (-4.0%), Hana Financial Group (-1.1%), and SK Inc (-2.4%). The release of DeepSeek’s latest AI model reignited worries that more efficient models may require less memory, dampening sentiment toward memory chipmakers, while intensifying competition from Chinese semiconductor producers added to concerns over Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. Heavy net selling of Korean equities by foreign investors last week further underscored the downside pressure on the market. At the same time, rising tensions in the Middle East and attacks on commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf kept oil-supply disruption risks in focus, even as crude prices eased in early Monday trading.