Tech Stocks Under Pressure Again: KOSPI -3.5%, Elice -33% on First Day

Technology stocks are once again under pressure: investor sentiment towards AI-related stocks remains volatile ahead of key earnings reports this week, which will test the resilience of chipmakers' rally. The dollar is declining.

KOSPI, an important benchmark for AI investments, fell by 3.5%, and SK Hynix is heading towards its lowest close since April. MSCI Asia Pacific lost 1% – in contrast to the rise in tech stocks on Wall Street on Monday. Later, sentiment stabilized: S&P 500 futures added 0.2%, balancing between gains and losses; European stocks are expected to open down by 0.5%.

On the first trading day in Seoul, shares of Elice, specializing in data center infrastructure, fell by up to 33%. “The drop in Elice weighs on sentiment and shows that the environment for neocloud – AI infrastructure cloud providers – has not fully improved yet,” said Kazuki Muramatsu of Nagomi Capital, adding that without earnings reports, the uncertainty surrounding the market will not dissipate.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds holds at 5.14% after rising by 7 basis points in the US session; French bonds fell in price after the weekend. “The US tech stock rally yesterday did not carry over to Asia. Investors are avoiding risk due to yields and high energy prices, and the rise in financing costs may delay or cancel AI projects,” noted Frederic Neumann of HSBC.

Reports: Netflix on Tuesday, Tesla, Meta, and IBM on Wednesday. Philadelphia Semiconductor rose by 1.6% on Monday, breaking an eight-session losing streak – the longest since 2008; this helped Nasdaq 100 recover from the worst week since April 2025. Meanwhile, about 65% of S&P 500 stocks declined. “The recovery was driven by tech stocks, not a broad return of risk appetite,” wrote Dilin Wu of Pepperstone.

Gold is stable at $4,145 per ounce. Brent is at five-month highs – $109.80 per barrel. “Investors are reluctant to open large positions ahead of earnings reports,” said Carol Kong of Commonwealth Bank of Australia. “Given the close link between risk appetite, global growth, and AI investments, they are likely to wait for results before reassessing positions in the dollar.”