SEOUL: South Korean stocks declined 0.3 percent at late Tuesday morning, led by losses in leading tech shares, analysts said.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 6.12 points to 2,055.4 as of 11:20 a.m.
Tech shares were down after the Wall Street Journal reported that Tsinghua Unigroup, a Chinese chip designer, made a US$23 billion bid for U.S. semiconductor maker Micron, which could intensify competition in the global chip market dominated by Korean chipmakers.
Top-cap Samsung Electronics declined 2.92 percent, and SK hynix, the world’s second-largest chipmaker, sank 6.17 percent, hitting a 52-week low.
Hana Financial Group gained 4.21 percent after the major banking group on Monday announced plans to complete a merger between its two banking units as early as September.
The local currency was changing hands at 1,138.0 won against the dollar in Seoul as of 11:20 a.m., down 7.4 won from Monday’s close.
