Japan, South Korea Stocks Under Broad Pressure as Samsung Electronics Plunges 8%, Dragging KOSPI Below 6,700

TradingKey - Japanese and South Korean stock markets faced concentrated sell-offs, with Samsung Electronics plunging 8% to drag down the KOSPI, while SK Hynix, Kioxia, and SoftBank all suffered losses.

During the Asian trading session on August 24, stock markets in Japan and South Korea opened lower and fluctuated, remaining under pressure overall. Among them, the KOSPI index fell 3.12%, losing the 6,700 mark to close at 6,696.96 points; both major heavyweights experienced varying degrees of decline, with Samsung Electronics tumbling 8.7%, dropping below the 260,000 KRW level to close at 257,000 KRW, while SK Hynix fell 3.41%, breaching the 1.7 million mark to close at 1,671,000 KRW.

KOSPI Index Chart, Source: TradingView

The Nikkei 225 index registered a smaller decline compared to the KOSPI, falling just 0.74% to close at 65,528.04 points; Kioxia fell 6.24%, narrowly holding the 50,000 mark to close at 50,930 JPY, while SoftBank dropped 5.33%, breaching the 5,000 mark to close at 4,975 JPY.

Mainly impacted by high-level consolidation in US tech stocks and divergence in the semiconductor sector, heavyweights like Samsung Electronics suffered heavy sell-offs, significantly intensifying selling pressure in the South Korean stock market; Japanese stocks came under pressure due to pullbacks in chip and heavy-weight holdings, remaining range-bound at lower levels throughout the day.

In addition, as the market awaits further monetary policy signals from global central banks this week, and AI giant Nvidia (NVDA) will report earnings after the market close this Wednesday (August 26), investment sentiment for Asian risk assets has turned conservative.