Seoul's KOSPI falls another 5.46% and SK hynix drops 10%, as Korean and AP reports point to China's memory maker CXMT

Seoul's KOSPI closed on Tuesday 13 October at 6,035.35, down 348.89 points or 5.46%, FinanceFeeds reports. That follows Monday's 3.65% fall, which the Switchboard ran on 12 October. SK hynix fell 10.09% to 1,443,000 won and Samsung Electronics closed down 7.39% at 232,000 won. AP gives the same index level and says the fall had been more than 7% earlier in the session.

The Herald says the Korea Exchange activated the sell-side “sidecar”, which pauses program sell orders for five minutes, at 9:47:58 a.m., with KOSPI 200 futures down 5.08%. It was the first activation since 19 August.

What changed since Monday is the reason given. Monday's coverage pointed to reports that OpenAI's revenue was lower than signalled. On Tuesday, AP says reports suggested that the latest advances by China's memory-chip maker CXMT could increasingly challenge Samsung, SK hynix and Micron. The Herald also cites CXMT's plans for next-generation DDR5 server memory, weak US chip stocks overnight, and a Kiwoom analyst's remark that Samsung's share buyback has ended. Asia Business Daily counted 3.6722 trillion won of net selling by foreign investors by early afternoon, their sixth straight day of selling.

Elsewhere in Asia, AP reports that Tokyo's Nikkei fell 1.8% after a holiday, with SoftBank Group down 8.5% and Tokyo Electron down 7.2%. Taipei's Taiex fell 2%, with TSMC down 2%. Every figure here is reported by named outlets; Korea Exchange data was not read directly.

• Reported The KOSPI closed at 6,035.35, down 348.89 points or 5.46%; SK hynix fell 10.09% to 1,443,000 won and Samsung Electronics 7.39% to 232,000 won. FinanceFeeds
• Reported The Korea Exchange activated the sell-side sidecar at 9:47:58 a.m., its first since 19 August, with KOSPI 200 futures down 5.08%. The Herald Business
• Reported AP says reports suggested CXMT's latest advances could increasingly challenge Samsung, SK hynix and Micron; the Nikkei fell 1.8% and the Taiex 2%. AP, via ClickOnDetroit
• Reported Foreign investors were net sellers of 3.6722 trillion won by early afternoon, the sixth consecutive trading day of selling. Asia Business Daily