Japanese and South Korean Stocks Close Lower; Nikkei 225 Falls 0.6%, Kospi Drops 0.27%, Samsung Bucks Trend to Rise Nearly 1%

TradingKey - On September 29, Japanese and South Korean stock markets remained weak in afternoon trading as market wait-and-see sentiment picked up. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index (JPN225) closed down 0.60% at 65,481.22 points; South Korea's KOSPI Index closed down 0.27% at 6,870.82 points.

Source: TradingView

In individual stocks, South Korean tech shares diverged. SK Hynix closed down 0.17% at 1.765 million won (approx. $1,300); Samsung Electronics rose 0.93% to 272,500 won. In the Japanese market, SoftBank Group closed down 3.35% at 6,035 yen (approx. $38); Kioxia rose 0.56% to 17,880 yen.

One of the key market focuses came from Samsung Electronics' new investment plan in the AI infrastructure sector. According to reports, Samsung Electronics and its affiliates will invest a total of $1 billion in Helix Digital Infrastructure. Helix is a company focused on AI infrastructure, co-founded by global investment firm KKR (KKR), Kuwait Investment Authority, Nvidia (NVDA), and Vistra (VST).

This investment is mainly aimed at the expanding AI infrastructure market, with funds to be used for data center construction and underlying infrastructure such as power related to data center deployment. As demand for AI computing power continues to grow, the importance of data centers and supporting energy facilities is steadily increasing, and Samsung Electronics' latest move further expands its investment footprint in the AI infrastructure field.