South Korean shares tanked on Monday as investors offloaded stocks amid renewed concerns over the profitability of AI-led investments and fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve could adopt a more hawkish monetary policy stance due to a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report for May.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index or Kospi fell 676.18 points, or 8.3%, to end at 7,484.41. The Kosdaq also decreased by 91.05 points, or 9.1%, to close at 911.39.
The Korea Exchange activated a five-minute sell-side sidecar on the country's primary and secondary stock markets on Monday morning as concerns rose over the semiconductor sector, and investor sentiment was dragged down by fears of further interest rate hikes after the U.S.'s better-than-expected jobs data.
A sell-side sidecar is activated when the KOSPI200 Futures index or the KOSDAQ150 futures decline 5% or more for at least one minute.
In corporate news, SK Group subsidiaries SK Hynix (KRX:000660) and SK Telecom (KRX:017670) unveiled separate partnerships with U.S. chip giant Nvidia to support AI infrastructure expansion and next-generation memory development.
Meanwhile, SK Hynix signed a multi-year technology partnership with Nvidia to develop next-generation memory solutions. Shares of SK Hynix fell over 7% at market close.