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Seoul shares open sharply lower on woes over AI bubble, Fed policy direction

Published: 20 Aug. 2025, 10:30 Updated: 20 Aug. 2025, 16:22

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi opening on Aug. 20. [YONHAP]

Shares opened sharply lower Wednesday on concerns over a bubble in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector and heightened uncertainty ahead of the upcoming Jackson Hole meeting.

The Kospi lost 51.01 points, or 1.62 percent, to 3,100.55 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed 1.46 percent lower and the S&P 500 shed 0.59 percent amid heightened caution ahead of the Jackson Hole economic policy symposium, slated for Friday, where U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will make a speech on his outlook for the economy.

Investor sentiment was also dampened after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned that the AI market may be in a bubble like the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, which led to a stock market crash in the early 2000s.

In Seoul, top-cap shares started weak.

Tech giant Samsung Electronics edged down 0.14 percent, and its rival SK hynix slid 3.61 percent.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution lost 1.56 percent, and major bio firm Samsung Biologics went down 0.78 percent.

Leading nuclear power plant builder Doosan Enerbility shot down 8.4 percent, and shipbuilding giant Hanwha Ocean pulled back 2.64 percent.

Tech was also sluggish, with internet portal operator Naver retreating 2 percent and Kakao, the operator of the country's top mobile messenger, dipping 3.37 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,396.0 won against the greenback at 9:15 a.m., up 0.38 percent from the previous session of 1,390.7 won.

Yonhap