Hynix's Honeymoon Hit a Hormuz-Sized Speed Bump on Day Two 📉

SK Hynix shares plunged as much as 10% in Seoul on Monday, erasing a chunk of the optimism from the chipmaker's record-breaking Nasdaq debut two trading days earlier. The selloff tracked a broad retreat across Asian markets, where renewed US strikes on Iran and a contested Strait of Hormuz pushed oil prices sharply higher.

SK Hynix (000660), one of the heaviest weightings on the KOSPI, gave back gains following its Friday listing on the Nasdaq. The company priced its American depositary receipts at $149, raising $26.5 billion in the largest US debut by a foreign company, trailing only SpaceX's $75 billion Nasdaq listing last month. SK Hynix ADRs climbed roughly 13% on Friday in New York to close at $168.01 on strong demand.

The Monday pullback extended well beyond SK Hynix. Samsung Electronics fell 4.21%, compounding pressure on the KOSPI, which slid 5.84% to 7,033. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.96%, and the Topix eased 0.16% to 4,029.67. US stock futures pointed lower as well, with S&P 500 futures down 0.1%, Nasdaq 100 futures off 0.3%, and Dow Jones futures down 0.1%, according to data posted on X by The Kobeissi Letter.

The decline followed an escalation in US-Iran tensions over the weekend, after Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed. US Central Command rejected the closure claim, said vessels could transit, and confirmed a fresh round of strikes on Iranian forces. "US Central Command forces began launching more strikes against Iran to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz," CENTCOM said in a post on X.

The geopolitical tension lifted energy benchmarks, with WTI crude rising 4.43% to $74.58 and Brent gaining 4.35% to $79.32. Gold slipped 0.3%, while the full impact on chip stocks will surface once US markets open and SK Hynix ADRs resume trading on the Nasdaq.