KOSPI falls 3.65% as foreign selling hits South Korea’s biggest chipmakers

South Korea’s KOSPI fell 3.65% in Seoul on Monday, October 12, closing at 6,384.24 as foreign investors sold heavily and Samsung Electronics and SK hynix led losses. The 241.69-point drop took the index below 6,400 for the first time since August 11, according to Seoul Economic Daily, extending a decline that has now lasted four consecutive sessions.

The closing figures establish the scale of the sell-off. The reports also describe several pressures that analysts believe weighed on trading, including semiconductor share sales, changes in exchange-traded fund holdings and concern about the supply of shares available to the market. They do not establish one proven cause for the day’s decline.

Foreign investors sell about 2.02 trillion won in KOSPI shares

Foreign investors sold a net roughly 2.02 trillion won in KOSPI shares, the two reports said. Individual investors bought a net roughly 1.47 trillion won, while institutions sold about 110.7 billion won. Those figures show that domestic individual buying absorbed part of the foreign sales but did not prevent the index from falling sharply.

Selling was concentrated in the market’s major chipmakers. Samsung Electronics fell 4.39% to 250,500 won, while SK hynix lost 4.52% to 1.605 million won. Seoul Economic Daily reported foreign sales of Samsung shares worth 533.1 billion won and SK hynix shares worth 1.0431 trillion won. Both companies had declined for four consecutive sessions since October 6, the newspaper said.

Why analysts pointed to chip funds and share supply

Hana Securities analyst Lim Seung-mi attributed the KOSPI’s fall to rebalancing by exchange-traded funds focused on semiconductors and concerns that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix may have completed treasury-stock purchases, Yonhap reported. Those are Lim’s explanations for the trading, rather than an independently established accounting of every investor’s decision.

Seoul Economic Daily cited Daishin Securities analyst Lee Kyoung-min as saying foreign selling and weak supply-demand conditions were limiting a rebound despite solid earnings fundamentals. He also said support for the market weakened after buying linked to Samsung’s share buyback ended. The newspaper labels its English report as AI-translated and cautions that quoted wording may differ from the original Korean.

Yonhap also placed the fall against concern about energy prices and inflation. It reported elevated oil prices and renewed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia’s main airport over the preceding weekend, relaying analysts’ concern that a broader regional conflict could affect energy supplies. That context does not establish how much those concerns contributed to Monday’s share prices.

Other shares, currency and bond moves

Other large companies moved in different directions. Yonhap reported Hanwha Aerospace down 3.25% and Hyundai Motor down 1.39%, while HMM gained 4.81% and KT&G rose 1.58%. Those mixed results sit alongside the much broader count of declining shares and show that the market fall did not mean every major stock lost ground.

The won strengthened against the US dollar during the session: Yonhap put it at 1,335.1 per dollar by 3:30 p.m., compared with 1,342.8 at the previous stock session’s close. Government bond yields also fell. The three-year yield dropped 6.2 basis points to 3.921%, and the five-year yield declined 5.7 basis points to 4.101%, the agency reported.

For investors, the confirmed outcome is a fourth consecutive KOSPI decline, substantial net foreign selling and losses exceeding 4% at each of South Korea’s two largest chipmakers. The available reports document the October 12 close and offer attributed explanations for it. They do not show whether shares recovered or fell further in a later session, or resolve which of the pressures analysts identified mattered most.