Seoul shares saw a nearly 4% decline on Friday as investors opted to secure profits following a recent surge led by the tech sector. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) opened 3.44% lower and further dropped by 3.88% to 8,304.44 by 11:20 a.m. However, it managed to recover slightly from earlier losses of up to 6.88%.
Trading of the KOSPI was briefly suspended for five minutes by the Korea Exchange around 9:08 a.m. This action was taken as the KOSPI 200 Futures index had decreased by 5% or more for at least one minute, according to reports from Yonhap news agency.
In the U.S., major stocks closed with mixed results. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed by 1.73%, the S&P 500 added 0.41% to reach 7,584.31. On the other hand, the Nasdaq composite, which is tech-heavy, experienced a slight decline of 0.09% due to decreases in AI-related stocks.
