Japan and South Korea Indices Both Fall. Kioxia Plunges Nearly 9%, SoftBank Drops 5%, Samsung and SK Hynix Rise Against Trend

TradingKey - The Nikkei 225 and KOSPI indices both opened lower, with Kioxia plunging nearly 9% and SoftBank falling over 5%, while Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix bucked the trend to rise.

During the Asian trading session on July 3, both Japanese and South Korean stock markets opened lower. Specifically, the Nikkei 225 index opened flat and trended downward, falling another 1.4% to temporarily trade at 67,769.98 points, hitting its lowest level since June 15. South Korea's KOSPI opened higher but fell back, dropping 0.5% to temporarily trade at 7,609.70 points, also marking a near half-month low.

Nikkei 225 Index Chart, Source: TradingView

In terms of individual stocks, South Korean heavyweights outperformed Japanese stocks. Specifically, Samsung Electronics surged 9,000 won at the open, approaching the 300,000 won threshold with a 2.97% gain, temporarily trading at 296,000 KRW; SK Hynix rose 1.19% to temporarily trade at 2,213,000 KRW; SoftBank fell 5.28% to temporarily trade at 5,868 JPY; Kioxia tumbled 8.6%, briefly slipping below the 70,000 level to temporarily trade at 69,700 JPY, touching its lowest level since June 11.

Kioxia Stock Price Chart, Source: TradingView

Overnight, the three major U.S. stock indexes did not experience the 'second avalanche' feared by the market. The U.S. chip sector began to bottom out after bearish factors for Micron ( MU) and others waned. This provided a relatively stable external environment for today's opening of the Japanese and South Korean stock markets, breaking the chain reaction of consecutive liquidations for bulls, though it remains difficult to reverse the weak trend.