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Kospi falls below 5,000 mark following overnight Wall Street losses

Published: 06 Feb. 2026, 09:48

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi opening on Feb. 6. [YONHAP]

Korean stocks opened lower Friday following overnight losses on Wall Street amid concerns that major firms' investments in the AI sector could lead to financial burdens.

The Kospi sank 246.42 points, or 4.77 percent, to 4,917.15 in the first 15 minutes of trading, surrendering the 5,000 threshold.

Korea’s benchmark Kospi triggered a temporary trading curb known as a sidecar shortly after the market opened, as the sharp drop prompted a surge in program selling.

According to the Korea Exchange, a sidecar was activated at 9:06 a.m., suspending program sell orders in the main bourse for five minutes after a steep fall in Kospi 200 futures prices.

At the time of the trigger, the most actively traded Kospi 200 futures contract had fallen 5.22 percent to 719.80 from the previous session’s close.

A sidecar is activated when the price of the most actively traded Kospi 200 futures contract rises or falls by more than 5 percent, and the move is sustained for at least one minute.

This marks the second time this year that a Kospi sell-side sidecar has been triggered, and the first since Monday.

Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dipped 1.59 percent, and the S&P 500 lost 1.3 percent as investors expressed concerns over excessive AI-related spending by major technology firms. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.2 percent.

In Seoul, large-cap shares opened lower across different sectors.

Samsung Electronics fell 4.58 percent, and SK hynix sank 5.58 percent.

Hyundai Motor lost 6.86 percent, and its sister Kia decreased 4.26 percent. Hanwha Aerospace crashed 7.99 percent.

Chemical shares opened mostly lower as well. LG Chem dipped 4.33 percent, and SK Innovation lost 4.01 percent. S-Oil also moved down 5.11 percent.

Financial shares were also in negative terrain, with Shinhan Financial moving down 1.1 percent, and Samsung Life Insurance losing 4.96 percent.

The local currency weakened 5.3 won from the previous session to trade at 1,474.3 against the greenback at 9:15 a.m.

BY HYEON YE-SEUL, YONHAP [[email protected]]