AI spending doubts drag Seoul stocks as Intel and Amazon earnings disappoint
South Korea's benchmark KOSPI opened 51 points lower on Monday, down 0.89 per cent to 5,679.74 by 9:15 a.m., after disappointing quarterly earnings from Intel and Amazon on Wall Street sharpened doubts about whether the returns on artificial intelligence spending justify the sums being committed.
The S&P 500 fell 1.82 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 2.86 per cent on Friday, losses that carried into Seoul's chip-heavy market. Samsung Electronics fell 2.89 per cent and SK hynix 0.63 per cent, while battery maker LG Energy Solution slipped 0.76 per cent, Hyundai Motor 0.18 per cent and KB Financial 2.77 per cent.
The AI spending question now sits alongside a crowded macro calendar for investors. Markets are watching for the US jobs report and the US midterm elections on Tuesday, while Iranian negotiators were in Doha on Sunday for a third consecutive day of talks with Qatari mediators aimed at ending the US-Iran war.
The won traded at 1,335.2 against the dollar at 9:15 a.m., down 0.9 won from the previous close. Separately, President Lee Jae Myung pledged bold investment in artificial intelligence and other future growth engines to lift South Korea's economic growth potential, according to Token Times.
