S. KOREAN STOCKS TRIM LOSSES AFTER PANIC SELLING

 SEOUL, Feb 6 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- South Korean stocks trimmed early losses on Friday after a bout of panic selling that triggered a sidecar, reported Xinhua.

The benchmark KOSPI declined 74.43 points, or 1.44 per cent, to close at 5,089.14, while the smaller KOSDAQ slipped 27.64 points, or 2.49 per cent, to finish at 1,080.77.

The KOSPI opened 150.42 points lower and dived below the psychological mark of 5,000 points early in the session to an intraday low of 4,899.30.

The extreme volatility activated a sell-side sidecar as the KOSPI 200 futures dropped over 5 per cent.

The sidecar refers to a temporary halt of programme trading orders for five minutes that is triggered when the KOSPI 200 futures rise or fall by more than 5 per cent.

Foreign investors led the sell-off in the KOSPI, while retail investors prevented the deeper rout through a dip-buying in both the KOSPI and the KOSDAQ.

The market's fall was driven by growing concerns that excessive capital spending on artificial intelligence (AI) might not yield immediate profits, weighing on the country's semiconductor giants.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics and memory chip giant SK Hynix ended 0.44 per cent and 0.36 per cent lower each after retreating as much as 4.6 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively during early trading.

The country's top automaker Hyundai Motor tumbled 4.30 per cent, and the largest battery maker LG Energy Solution decreased 2.53 per cent.

The No. 1 biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer Samsung Biologics fell 1.88 per cent, and the leading aerospace and defence company Hanwha Aerospace dipped 3.75 per cent.

The biggest shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries went down 2.00 per cent, and the energy infrastructure leader Doosan Enerbility was down by 1.77 per cent.  

-- BERNAMA-XINHUA