South Korea Financial Markets

A TV camera man works in front of a screen showing stock prices at the Korea Exchange in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026.

 Ahn Young-joon - AP

HONG KONG (AP) — South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index sank more than 7% on Thursday as a sell-off of technology shares deepened after U.S. stocks fell on hotter-than-expected inflation data.

The Kospi index lost 7.1% in early trading to 5,584.83. Samsung Electronics slid 8.2% and South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix plunged 10.8%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 3.9% to 65,119.51. OpenAI investor SoftBank Group tumbled 9.1% while chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron dropped 6.3%.