stocks-summary

SEOUL, Nov. 6 (Yonhap) -- Seoul stocks sank for the second consecutive session on Friday amid fears that a Democratic Congress could decelerate the pace of data center construction for artificial intelligence (AI). The Korean won was trading sharply lower against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed down 324.11 points, or 6.02 percent, at 5,059.69, falling as low as 4,911.28.

On Thursday, the index plunged over 5 percent.

The index had plummeted over 8 percent right after the opening bell, triggering the country's bourse operator to suspend trading of KOSPI stocks for 20 minutes.

"Concerns that the U.S. Congress could further tighten regulations on AI data centers were behind the market plunge," Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said, noting such concerns had spread to the entire AI value chain, including semiconductors.

Democrats secured control of both houses at the Congress in the midterm elections earlier this week, with five states that were flipped to the Democratic Party, including Texas, being top AI data center locations, Lee explained.

But the possibility that U.S. legislators could completely suspend the build-out of data centers is low, he added, saying the market reaction is "excessive."

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