Japan, South Korea Stocks Open Down Across the Board; Kospi Falls Nearly 3%, Nikkei 225 Drops Over 1%, Samsung Down Over 5%, Kioxia Falls Over 7%

TradingKey - On October 23, Japanese and South Korean stock markets collectively moved lower in morning trade, with South Korean equities posting relatively pronounced losses. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index opened at 62,667.05 points and subsequently continued to slide, dropping 1.68% to around 61,830 points; South Korea's Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) opened at 5,403.17 points, down about 2.36%, before its decline widened to 3.27% at 5,352.61 points. Stock markets in both countries extended their pullbacks from the previous trading session.

Source: TradingView

South Korean semiconductor leaders came under pressure in morning trade, with Samsung Electronics falling over 5% to 205,500 won (about $155.1); SK Hynix dropped over 3% to 207,500 won. In the Japanese market, Kioxia fell over 7% to 11,700 yen (about $74.9); SoftBank Group dropped over 7% to 4,020 yen.

Overnight, U.S. tech stocks suffered a sharp sell-off as market concerns over massive AI infrastructure capital expenditures and return on investment reignited. The S&P 500 Index fell 1.21% to 7,663.43 points, marking its largest single-day drop since July; the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 2.60% to 26,008.86 points; while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.02% to 52,873.28 points. The semiconductor sector saw even steeper losses, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropping 6.72%, Meta shares falling nearly 7%, and Nvidia dropping 4.4%. The pullback in U.S. tech stocks continued to weigh on Asian market sentiment.