South Korean stocks decline over 2%
South Korean stocks extended their decline for the second consecutive session on Friday, amid declines across Asia-Pacific markets as investors digested U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs.
As of 9:40 a.m. local time (8:40 p.m. ET Thursday), the Kospi index had plunged 2.3%.
Meanwhile, the small-cap Kosdaq index was last seen trading 2.8% lower.
Declines were broad-based across the technology, manufacturing, retail, financial and gaming sectors.
Among the index heavyweights, Samsung Electronics was last seen down 0.56%, while SK Hynix declined by 4.57%.