South Korea's market closed lower on Thursday, marking a second consecutive
weekly decline in a shortened holiday trading week as weakness in chip stocks
and rising oil prices stoked inflation concerns. The won strengthened and
benchmark government bond yields rose. The KOSPI fell 177.97 points, or 2.62%,
to 6,625.93, down 5.79% for the week. Samsung Electronics slid 2.42% and SK
Hynix fell 2.44%.