[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index shrank more than 1 per cent on Wednesday as investors fretted over grim growth outlook and Japan's export curbs effective from Thursday, sending shares of major chipmakers down. The South Korean won and the benchmark bond yield fell.
A South Korean central bank board member said the general conviction that the local economy would rebound in the second half of the year was weakening, adding to growing concerns about the outlook.South Korea's major chipmakers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, lost 1.8 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively, after analysts saw Japan's export curbs would put pressure on the firms.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.49 per cent, after US stocks closed up. Japanese stocks fell 0.53 per cent.