Japan and South Korea Stocks Open Lower; Kospi Falls Over 2%, SK Hynix Drops More Than 4%, SoftBank Down Over 3%

TradingKey - On October 20, Japanese and South Korean stock markets both moved lower in morning trade, with South Korean equities extending losses. The South Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) opened 0.60% lower at 5,733.57 points, before widening its decline to 2.20% at 5,641.21 points; Japan's Nikkei 225 Index (N225) opened 0.25% lower at 64,755.49 points, before dropping 0.77% to 64,415.21 points.

Source: TradingView

South Korean semiconductor leaders performed weakly, with Samsung Electronics falling 1.83% to 214,000 won (about $161); SK Hynix dropped 4.23% to 1.223 million won. In the Japanese market, Kioxia declined 1.07% to 13,455 yen (about $85); SoftBank Group fell 3.08% to 4,696 yen.

Overnight, US tech stocks rebounded, with the Nasdaq Composite Index rising 1.11% to 26,430.89 points, marking its largest single-day gain in two weeks; the S&P 500 Index climbed 0.41% to 7,690.73 points. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell slightly by 0.07% to 51,966.03 points. Amazon (AMZN) shares rose about 5%, making it one of the individual stocks driving the tech rebound.

The semiconductor sector also rebounded, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rising 1.6%, snapping an eight-consecutive-session losing streak. Memory chip stocks staged a particularly noticeable recovery, as SanDisk (SNDK) jumped about 5.5% and SK Hynix-related American Depositary Receipts rose nearly 5%, indicating that overnight capital flowed back into select memory chip targets.