(LEAD) Seoul shares turn lower amid Nvidia controversies despite Wall Street rally

Detailed summary

SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korean shares turned lower Thursday despite ove...

(ATTN: UPDATES with latest figures in paras 1-2; RECASTS headline; ADDS more info from para 7)

SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korean shares turned lower Thursday despite overnight gains on Wall Street driven by a tech rally amid escalating controversies over Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

After opening 0.2 percent higher, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) turned negative, losing 11.32 points, or 0.21 percent, to 5,364.04 as of 9:15 a.m.

Overnight on Wall Street, three major stock indexes finished higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49 percent, the S&P 500 gained 1.31 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.6 percent.

Strong earnings reports from neocloud firm CoreWeave eased investor concerns over the profitability of massive AI investment.

However, Nvidia fell sharply after the bell as the Wall Street Journal reported that the company's board is preparing to oust Huang.

Later, a New York Times report said that Huang had an extramarital affair with a company executive who reported to him, while the Nvidia CEO admitted that he had a relationship with a suspected Chinese spy.

Tech giant Samsung Electronics added 0.73 percent, while chipmaker SK hynix fell 0.55 percent, and Hanmi Semiconductor, a leading chip equipment maker, decreased 2.39 percent.

Internet giant Naver, where Nvidia is the third-largest shareholder, sank 3.4 percent, and its rival Kakao lost 0.31 percent.

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