Foreign investors continued to sell, pushing the Korean won down to near 1,470 per U.S. dollar. Analysts cited conflicting forces — hopes for a U.S. fiscal settlement and lingering pressure from the overnight drop in major American tech stocks — as key drivers of the early volatility.
Among heavyweights, Samsung Electronics fell 1.6 percent to 101,800 won ($69), and SK hynix declined 2.8 percent to 602,000 won, following losses in U.S. chip and AI shares. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index slid 2.5 percent. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.3 percent to 23,468.30, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 gained 1.2 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. NVIDIA sank 3 percent after reports that SoftBank Group had sold its entire stake, reviving concerns about an “AI bubble” and stretched valuations.
Sentiment toward chipmakers remains divided. Worries about overinvestment continue to fuel bubble fears, even as strong earnings expectations attract buyers. Bloomberg estimates U.S. tech giants will spend roughly $320 billion this year on AI infrastructure, more than double the $151 billion invested in 2023, with the figure projected to exceed $1 trillion by 2031. Venture capital funding for AI startups surpassed $100 billion last year, hitting a record high.
Morgan Stanley maintained an upbeat view on Korean memory shares, recently raising its price targets for Samsung Electronics to 175,000 won and SK hynix to 850,000 won, citing solid AI-driven memory demand.
Automakers and defense names outperformed. Hyundai Motor rose 2.2 percent to 275,000 won, and Hanwha Aerospace gained 2.3 percent to 970,000 won.
NCSoft jumped 6.3 percent to 244,000 won on enthusiasm for its upcoming Aion 2 title. Hana Securities lifted its target price by 15.4 percent to 300,000 won, citing strong earnings leverage. Analyst Lee Jun-ho said Aion 2 is “well-positioned to deliver explosive profit growth upon success,” noting NCSoft plans additional launches through 2026, including Limit Zero Breakers, Time Takers and Cinder City.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 edged up 0.03 percent to 50,857.50 as markets digested SoftBank’s unexpected NVIDIA divestment. SoftBank Group shares tumbled 4.8 percent to 21,600 yen ($140) after confirming it sold all 32.1 million NVIDIA shares last month for $5.83 billion. CFO Kazuhiko Fujihara said the sale was not driven by doubts about NVIDIA but to reallocate capital into new AI investments. Founder Masayoshi Son — who had previously lamented missing out on $150 billion in gains after an earlier NVIDIA exit — now faces fresh scrutiny over group strategy. SoftBank’s market cap, which had tripled by late October during the AI boom, has fallen more than 20 percent in the past week. At its peak on Oct. 29, SoftBank’s valuation reached ¥40.15 trillion ($260bn), narrowing the gap with Toyota to less than ¥10 trillion.
Excluding SoftBank, most Japanese blue chips advanced. Toyota rose 1.8 percent to 3,203 yen, Honda climbed 2.3 percent to 1,559 yen, Sony gained 3.1 percent to 4,662 yen, and Fast Retailing edged up 0.2 percent to 58,760 yen.
In China, the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 percent to 4,010.88, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.7 percent to 26,878.97.
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