South Korea's stock market declined nearly 1% on Monday as chip stocks mirrored the downturn in their U.S. counterparts, and auto stocks also fell, despite favorable domestic data. The Korean won hit its highest level since early January, while the benchmark government bond yield decreased.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 0.98%, ending at 2,623.76 points.
South Korea's latest data revealed that industrial production in August, driven by automotive and chip manufacturing, performed better than market expectations, marking the largest increase in a year.
Chipmaker Samsung Electronics (005930, Financial) dropped 2.3%, while peer SK Hynix fell 2.1%. This drop followed the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index's 1.8% decline on Friday.
Hyundai Motor fell 3.3% and Kia Motors declined 2.9%, making the automotive stock sector the biggest loser among the main sub-indices.
On a positive note, mobile operator KT Corp rose 1.4% after the company signed an artificial intelligence cooperation agreement with Microsoft.
