Anchor: South Korea’s main bourse, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index(KOSPI), fell below two-thousand-600 for the first time in nine trading days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he will go ahead with his tariffs against Canada and Mexico and slap additional tariffs on China. At the same time, the won weakened against the U.S. dollar and major companies saw the value of their shares decline.   
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index(KOSPI) closed Friday’s trading at two-thousand-532-point-78, down 88-point-97 points, or three-point-39 percent, from the previous day.

It is the first time in nine trading days that the main bourse has fallen below the two-thousand-600 mark.

Most of the high-ranking market capitalization companies lost share value, such as Samsung Electronics, which shed more than three percent to end the day at under 55-thousand won, or around 38 U.S. dollars, per share.

SK hynix shares fell in value by four-point-five percent, while those of LG Energy Solution lost four-point-nine percent.

Foreign investors led the decline, posting a net sale of over one-point-five trillion won, likely because of Trump’s comments about tariffs.

Trump announced that his 25 percent tariffs against Canada and Mexico will take effect Tuesday and the U.S. will levy an additional ten percent tariff against China, on top of the ten percent implemented last month.

Shares of American chipmakers and tech giants, such as NVIDIA, plunged, as did the three major indices on Wall Street: Dow Jones, S&P500 and Nasdaq.

Weakened investor sentiment stemming from policy uncertainties was also reflected in the major indices in China, Japan and Hong Kong.

Demand for the U.S. dollar, considered a risk-free asset, surged, resulting in the local currency rate weakening by 20 won against the greenback to one-thousand-463 won.

Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.