South Korean stocks hit a one-month intraday high Tuesday but closed down over
1%, ending a five-day winning streak as government bond yields surged. The most
liquid 3-year Korean government bond yield rose 8.5bps to 3.854%; the 10-year
yield climbed 9.5bps to 4.395%. Semiconductor names outperformed early after the
Philadelphia semiconductor index rose 1.6% overnight, but gains narrowed:
Samsung Electronics reversed an intraday high of +4.9% to close down 2.19%,
while SK Hynix closed up 1.03% after an intraday high of +8.9%. Analyst Seo
Sang-young said early foreign inflows became unstable as rising yields
destabilized fund flows and market sentiment.