TradingKey - Japanese and South Korean stocks open down across the board! KOSPI falls below 6,900, Nikkei drops below 66,000; Samsung tumbles while SK Hynix defies the trend to surge over 3%.

During the Asian trading session on August 24, both Japanese and South Korean markets opened lower, influenced by high-level consolidation in U.S. tech stocks and cautious market sentiment. Among them, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 1.17%, breaking below the 6,900 mark to trade at 6,832.23 points. Heavyweight stocks diverged, with SK Hynix rising 3.58% to approach the 1.8 million mark, trading at 1,792,000 KRW; Samsung Electronics fell 4.26%, losing the 270,000 level to trade at 269,500 KRW.

KOSPI Index Chart, Source: TradingView

The Nikkei 225 Index opened below the 66,000-point mark, falling over 150 points or 0.23% to 65,862.57 points. Heavyweight stocks fell across the board, with Kioxia dropping 0.39% to trade at 54,110 JPY, while SoftBank fell 0.97% to trade at 5,204 JPY.

Last Friday, Japanese and South Korean stocks diverged, with Japan falling and South Korea rising. Japanese stocks came under pressure in tech and heavyweights due to rising U.S. Treasury yields and Japan's July core inflation rate rising to 1.9%, ultimately closing slightly lower. The South Korean market opened weaker and tested lower, but rebounded sharply intra-day driven by a strong rally in semiconductor giants. Samsung Electronics surged 3.87%, boosted by expectations of shareholder returns worth hundreds of billions of KRW, while SK Hynix rose 2.31%.

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