An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Modnay. (Yonhap)
An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Modnay. (Yonhap)

South Korean stocks opened sharply lower on renewed woes over an artificial intelligence bubble.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 87.15 points, or 2.09 percent, to 4,080.01 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

On Friday, US stocks dipped after a weaker-than-expected margin outlook on AI from Broadcom, which reignited woes that the vast spending from US tech companies on AI may not deliver meaningful returns.

The S&P 500 fell over 1 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite retreated 1.7 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.5 percent.

Also Friday, reports said that US President Donald Trump is considering former Federal Reserve Gov. Kevin Warsh as his top contender for the next Fed chair.

Trump also noted that Warsh largely agrees with his stance on further lowering rates. The current Fed chair is Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May 2026.

In Seoul, most large cap shares were trading lower.

Market top-cap Samsung Electronics fell 3.4 percent, while its chipmaking rival SK hynix dipped 3.85 percent.

Defense giant Hanwha Aerospace slid 3.12 percent, KB Financial Group inched down 0.95 percent, and portal operator Naver dipped 1.64 percent.

The Korean won was trading at 1,477.4 won against the US dollar, down 3.7 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)