- KOSPI closed down 3.52% at 5,533.77, wiping out all of Wednesday’s 3.29% advance.
- Brent crude rose 2% to $111 after a drone attack on a Saudi Aramco oilfield.
- Bitcoin fell below $83,000 on Thursday, as Asian stocks declined and oil prices surged.
Asian stocks fell on Thursday, with South Korea’s KOSPI sliding 3.52% as chip and AI shares came under pressure. Brent crude above $111 a barrel and escalating Middle East tensions added to market uncertainty, while Bitcoin also fell below $83,000.
Index Moves
- KOSPI (close): fell 201.89 points, or 3.52%, to 5,533.77, giving back all of Wednesday’s 3.29% gain. It opened at 5,670.11, touched 5,740.28 to briefly turn positive, then dropped to 5,485.98, down 4.35% at the low.
- KOSDAQ (close): lost 28.66 points, or 3.62%, to 764.10.
- Nikkei 225 (intraday): down about 2.65% at roughly 63,907 as of 1:40 p.m.
- Hang Seng (close): down about 3.11%, led by technology and battery stocks.
- Shanghai Composite: down roughly 1.48%, with the CSI 300 off about 1.3%.
Seoul’s Sell-Off
Decliners outnumbered gainers 709 to 174 on the Korea Exchange main board. Large caps fell 3.71%, against 1.72% for mid caps and 1.20% for small caps. Samsung Electronics closed at 214,500 won, down 4.03%, and SK Hynix at 1,223,000 won, down 5.49%.
Institutions sold a net 462.1 billion won of shares. Individuals bought a net 380.2 billion won, and foreign investors, after selling for most of the session, ended as net buyers of 59.2 billion won. The KOSPI closed 41.04% below its 52-week high, and the KOSDAQ 37.85% below its own, after the KOSPI’s 7.57% plunge on October 15.
The Bank of Korea held its benchmark rate at 3.00%, after hikes in July and August. It raised its growth forecasts, citing the chip cycle, with inflation at 2.9% in September, above target.
Tokyo and Oil
Advantest, Tokyo Electron and SoftBank Group dragged the Nikkei. Kioxia dropped 6.77% and SoftBank Group 6.86% at the last reading. Brent rose about 2% to $111 after reports of a drone strike on a Saudi Aramco field that killed two people. The yen traded near 157.70 to 158 per dollar, and the Bank of Japan meets on October 30.
Crypto Link
Bitcoin fell by approximately $1,500 within an hour on Thursday, dropping below $83,000 to trade near $82,825 at the latest reading. The decline came as Asian equities weakened amid pressure on technology stocks and rising oil prices. While these moves point to broader market uncertainty, the available data does not establish a direct link between the regional stock sell-off and Bitcoin’s decline.
Bitcoin had also fallen below $80,000 the previous week following hotter-than-expected US producer price data before recovering. Investors are now watching oil prices, technology-sector sentiment, and interest-rate expectations for further signals on the direction of risk assets.
Related: CryptoQuant CEO Says Fresh Bitcoin Inflows Only Happen in Bull Markets
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