SEOUL — South Korea's benchmark stock index hovered just above 7,000 on Thursday afternoon, a thin gain after a morning slide that showed how quickly $100 oil can erase a semiconductor rally.

The KOSPI stood at 7,060.76 as of 2:39 p.m., up 9.12 points, or 0.13%. That print sat above Wednesday's close of 7,051.64, when the index finished 1.4% higher and recaptured 7,000 for the first time since July 23. Intraday on Thursday the tape was less tidy. After a brief push toward 7,073, selling linked to Brent crude above $101 a barrel pulled the index as low as the mid-6,900s before chips and institutions bought the dip.

The tug of war is the market in one sentence. Memory stocks are priced for years of artificial-intelligence demand. Energy and Treasury yields are priced for a shooting war near the Strait of Hormuz. On Wednesday those two stories produced a green close. On Thursday morning they produced a red open. By midafternoon they had almost canceled out.

SK hynix closed Wednesday at 1,856,000 won, up 3.51%. Samsung Electronics was unchanged at 269,500 won. Thursday morning both traded lower as oil jumped and U.S. yields stayed firm after Wall Street fell overnight. Samsung........

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