On October 12, South Korean stocks opened lower. The KOSPI index opened down 0.72% at 6,578.17 points.

Subsequently, South Korean stocks plunged, with losses widening further. As of press time, the KOSPI was down 1.29%, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SSNLF) had fallen 0.95%, and SK hynix (SKHY) had dropped 2.8%.

Japanese markets were closed for the day.

In the previous trading session, the three major U.S. stock indices closed higher collectively, while memory chip concept stocks showed mixed performance. SanDisk fell 1.72%, SK hynix (SKHY) declined 0.86%, Western Digital rose 1.01%, and Seagate Technology gained 1.06%.

The optical communications sector strengthened across the board, with Ciena rising 5.58%, Lumentum climbing 5.22%, and Coherent gaining 3.4%.