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Stocks hold steady as AI optimism, tariff anxiety butt heads

Published: 18 Mar. 2025, 16:30 Updated: 18 Mar. 2025, 22:03

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,612.34 points on March 18, up 1.65 points, or 0.06 percent, from the previous trading session. [NEWS1]

Shares closed nearly flat Tuesday following the previous session's sharp gains amid lingering concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff measures. The local currency fell in value against the greenback.

The Kospi rose 1.65 points, or 0.06 percent, to close at 2,612.34, extending the winning streak to a second straight session.

Trade volume was a bit heavy at 431.5 million shares worth 11.86 trillion won ($8.17 billion), with winners outpacing losers 434 to 430.

The market opened higher, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, but soon lost momentum and moved within a tight range as investors moved to lock in profit from recent gains. The index rose nearly 2 percent on Monday.

Foreign investors and institutions bought a net 444.56 billion won and 92.11 billion won worth of shares, respectively, while retail investors sold a net 610.93 billion won.

“There exist both upside and downside risks in the market, as investors remain wary of Trump's tariff policies, while concerns about U.S. consumer sentiment have somewhat eased,” said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.

Eyes are also on messages from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to be delivered early Tuesday during GTC 2025, or the GPU Technology Conference 2025, underway in California.

The annual event, hosted by the U.S. tech firm, kicked off Monday to continue through Friday, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and other advanced technologies.

Top-cap shares ended mixed.

Samsung Electronics closed unchanged at 57,600 won while chipmaker SK hynix sank 1.46 percent to 203,000 won on profit taking.

Battery maker LG Energy Solution stayed flat at 325,000 won, but chemical firm LG Chem dropped 1.49 percent to 231,500 won.

Bio firm Samsung Biologics surged 1.4 percent to 1,084,000 won while Celltrion shed 0.21 percent to close at 187,400 won.

Carmakers also finished mixed. Hyundai Motor advanced 0.75 percent to 200,500 won, but Kia dipped 2.43 percent to 96,400 won.

Defense equipment manufacturer Hanwha Aerospace surged 1.46 percent to 764,000 won, and KB Financial climbed 1.65 percent to 80,200 won.

The local currency was trading at 1,452.9 won against the dollar at 3:30 p.m., up 5 won from the previous session.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, ended higher. Three-year government bonds' yield fell 0.4 basis points to 2.597 percent, while the return on the benchmark 10-year U.S. government bonds dropped 1.1 basis points to 4.303 percent.

BY KIM JU-YEON,YONHAP [[email protected]]