Screens in Hana Bank’s trading room in central Seoul show the Kospi closing at 2,505.01 points on Friday, down 1.19 percent, or 30.28 points, from the previous trading session. [NEWS1]

Shares tumbled more than 1 percent Friday as semiconductor and battery shares took a cue from overnight losses in U.S. heavyweights like Nvidia and Tesla. The Korean won sharply fell in value against the dollar.
 
The Kospi lost 30.28 points, or 1.19 percent, to close at 2,505.01.
 
Trading volume was moderate at 504 million shares worth 8.6 trillion won ($6.59 million), with losers outpacing winners 489 to 386.
 
Institutions and foreigners led the sharp decline, selling a net 586.6 billion won worth of shares and offsetting a net 561.4 billion won purchase by retail investors.
 
An overnight fall in Tesla and AI chip leader Nvidia sapped investor sentiment for chipmakers and battery makers.
 
Nvidia shed 2.9 percent, and Tesla shares were off by 1.7 percent on profit-taking on the last day of November.
 
“Chip and battery shares were affected by a drop in Tesla and Nvidia,” Choi Yoo-jun, a Shinhan Securities analyst, said. “U.S. investors took profit from recent gains in tech shares.”
 
In Seoul, battery firms were among the biggest losers, with LG Energy Solution slumping 5.72 percent to 428,500 won and Samsung SDI plunging 5.3 percent to 447,000 won. Posco Future M sank 3.24 percent to 314,000 won.
 
LG Chem slid 2.89 percent to 486,500 won, and SK Innovation slumped 6.08 percent to 134,400 won.
 
Samsung Electronics lost 1.1 percent to 72,000 won, and SK hynix retreated 0.97 percent to 132,600 won.
 
Mobile carriers also went south, with SK Telecom sinking 3.07 percent to 50,600 won and KT falling 0.89 percent to 33,250 won.
 
But defense companies were bullish, with Hanwha Aerospace jumping 8.02 percent to 136,000 won and Korea Aerospace Industries vaulting 3.34 percent to 47,900 won.
 
The won ended at 1,305.8 won against the dollar, up 15.8 won from the previous session’s close.
 
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds fell 0.9 points to 3.58 percent, and the return on the benchmark U.S. 10-year government bonds rose 6.8 points to reach 4.33 percent.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]