Kospi slides 0.32% as Wall Street corrects on expected Nvidia earnings

The benchmark Kospi shed 8.76 points, or 0.32 percent, to close at 2,689.25 as expected Nvidia earnings forced a market correction on Wall Street.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,689.25 points on Tuesday, down 0.32 percent, or 8.76 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Shares closed lower Tuesday to extend their losing streak to a third day, taking a cue from overnight losses on Wall Street. The local currency fell against the dollar.

The benchmark Kospi shed 8.76 points, or 0.32 percent, to close at 2,689.25.

Trade volume was light at 259.7 million shares worth 7.95 trillion won ($5.97 billion). Winners, however, outnumbered losers 434 to 423.

Institutions bought a net 36.9 billion won worth of shares, while individuals and foreign investors combined offloaded a net 40.9 billion won.

Overnight, major U.S. indexes closed mixed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.16 percent, while the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 0.32 percent and 0.85 percent, respectively.

Nvidia slid 2.25 percent ahead of its second-quarter earnings release due later this week, and other tech firms, including Micron and AMD, also lost ground at 3.83 percent and 3.22 percent, respectively.

Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said, "While the U.S. stock market in general has shown an improvement in investor confidence following the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's Jackson Hole speech, concerns over Nvidia's earnings led to a correction, particularly among semiconductor stocks."

In Seoul, Samsung Electronics slipped 0.39 percent to 75,800 won and SK hynix decreased 2.56 percent to 175,000 won.

Hyundai Motor lost 0.8 percent to close at 247,500 won and its smaller affiliate Kia dropped 0.97 percent to 101,800 won.

Battery shares closed mixed, with LG Energy Solution down 0.4 percent to 376,500 won while Samsung SDI jumped 1.81 percent to 338,000 won.

Samsung Biologics added 1.14 percent to finish at 973,000 won, while Celltrion slipped 2.2 percent to close at 200,500 won.

The local currency was trading at 1,331 won against the dollar as of 3:30 p.m., up 4.2 won from the previous session.

The Kosdaq lost 1.84 points, or 0.32 percent to close at 764.95.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year government bonds gained 5.8 basis points to 2.947 percent, and the return on the benchmark 10-year government bond gained 10.8 basis points to 3.081 percent.

BY CHO YONG-JUN, YONHAP [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]