Seoul, Oct 15 — Seoul stocks traded sharply on Thursday as concerns over artificial intelligence (AI) trade and US inflation data sparked a sell-off of major tech shares.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 404.21 points, or 6.73 percent, to 5,604.6 as of 11:20 am, reports Yonhap news agency.
In early trading, the benchmark index had fallen over 5 percent, triggering the country's bourse operator to temporary suspend trading for five minutes.
Overnight, U.S. stocks closed lower as concerns over the sustainability of AI spending and September consumer price data dampened investor sentiment.
The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September rose 0.6 percent from a month earlier, the fastest level seen since April, according to official data released Wednesday (U.S. time).
In Seoul, most market top caps were trading lower. Chip titans Samsung Electronics and SK hynix tumbled 7.87 percent and 9.87 percent, respectively.
Industry leader Hyundai Motor fell 5.1 percent, financial firm KB Financial slid 1.13 percent and defence giant Hanwha Aerospace dipped 1.54 percent.
Among the few winners was bio firm Celltrion, which added 3.13 percent.
The Korean won was trading at 1,350 won against the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., down 7.7 won from the close of the previous stock trading session.
Meanwhile, household loans extended by banks increased by the smallest in seven months in September amid tightened lending regulations and higher interest rates, central bank data showed on Thursday.
Outstanding household loans extended by banks stood at 1,198.9 trillion won (US$895.5 billion) last month, up 0.6 trillion won from a month earlier, slowing from the previous month's 3.5 trillion-won rise, according to data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The September gain marks the smallest since March this year when such loans rose by 0.5 trillion won.
Outstanding mortgage loans increased by 2.9 trillion won on-month in September to 955.5 trillion won.
Other household loans, in contrast, fell by 2.3 trillion won to 242.6 trillion won.