South Korean shares closed at a three-month low on Thursday, hit by losses in chip making and banking stocks, as foreign investors sold heavily on concerns about the prospect of higher US interest rates and the regional economy.
Shares in Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's biggest maker of memory chips, slid 4.86 percent to end at 528,000 won as foreign players aggressively booked profits from one of the year's top performing stocks.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended down 3.44 percent at 837.68 points, the lowest since February 4, 2004 when it closed at 835.50. Foreign investors sold a net 180.6 billion won worth of shares on Thursday, their seventh consecutive session of net selling.
Among top losers in the technology sector, shares in display maker Samsung SDI Co plunged by 9.06 percent to 135,500 won, while chip maker Hynix Semiconductor Inc closed down 7.2 percent at 12,250 won. South Korea's top lender, Kookmin Bank, dropped 3.59 percent to end at 42,950 won and third-ranked Woori Financial Group shed 4.42 percent to 8,220 won.
Trade volume totalled 353.3 million shares valued at 3.08 trillion won. Losers topped gainers by 601 to 147 with 48 stocks unchanged.
The June KOSPI 200 futures index dipped 3.70 points at 109.25 and the underlying KOSPI 200 spot index fell 3.50 points to 108.97.
The junior Kosdaq plunged by 4.68 percent to 437.33. Local institutions bought a net 92.5 billion won and retail investors bought a net 39.4 billion won worth of shares.