Japan and South Korea Stocks Close Lower: Nikkei Falls Below 70,000, SoftBank Drops Over 4%, Samsung and SK Hynix Both Drop Over 2%

TradingKey - During Asian trading hours on October 8, the Nikkei 225 Index closed down 1.42% at 69,042.11 points, while South Korea's KOSPI Index fell 2.62% to 6,625.93 points. On the same day, Samsung Electronics released its preliminary third-quarter results, and Japanese and South Korean memory stocks showed divergent performance.

Nikkei Closes Down 1.42%; Kioxia Reverses Early Gains

The Nikkei 225 Index closed below 70,000 points. According to a Nikkei QUICK News report that afternoon, Japan's long-term interest rates fell, while banking and semiconductor stocks weakened, with Mitsubishi UFJ dropping over 3% and SoftBank Group declining 4.28%.

Kioxia rose nearly 4% at one point in early trading, touching a daily high of 18,630 yen (approximately $117.94). As of the close, it traded at 17,900 yen, flat compared with the previous trading day.

[Source: TradingView]

KOSPI Index Closes Down 2.62% as Market Eyes Samsung Earnings

South Korea's KOSPI index opened higher before moving lower, ultimately closing down 2.62%. Reports during early trading showed that foreign selling put pressure on the market.

SK Hynix closed at 1.681 million won (approximately $1,256.8), down 2.44%. Samsung Electronics closed at 262,000 won, down 2.42%.

[Source: TradingView]

Samsung Electronics released its preliminary third-quarter results on the day, projecting consolidated revenue of approximately 195 trillion won, up 126.6% year-on-year, and operating profit of about 107.4 trillion won, up 782.5% year-on-year. Despite the record-breaking results, the company's stock price still closed lower. Earnings data for each business division will be disclosed later.

Fed Minutes Keep Possibility of Another Rate Hike This Year

Overnight, the three major U.S. stock indexes fell, with the Dow dropping 0.66%, while both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell 0.22%. Minutes from the Federal Reserve's September meeting released on October 7 showed that a majority of participants believed at the time that another increase in the target range for the federal funds rate before the end of the year might be appropriate, while emphasizing that subsequent decisions would depend on incoming data and economic conditions.