FX.co ★ South Korea Stocks Retreat On Oil Concerns

The benchmark KOSPI slipped 0.35% to around 5,590 on Thursday, paring gains from earlier in the week as investors turned cautious amid renewed volatility in global energy markets. Signals from Wall Street overnight provided little direction, with US markets ending mixed as participants largely stayed on the sidelines despite a coordinated release of emergency oil reserves by major economies. As part of the International Energy Agency’s 400 million-barrel release, South Korea will contribute 22.46 million barrels from its strategic reserves in an effort to ease global supply pressures. In currency trading, the won weakened sharply against the dollar, mirroring a broader risk-off tone. Investors moved into the greenback as a safe-haven asset while assessing the potential economic fallout from unstable oil prices. Major laggards included Samsung Electronics (-0.74%), SK Hynix (-0.89%), Hyundai Motor (-1.32%), KB Financial (-1.32%), and Celltrion (-1.79%).