[Anchor]
Yesterday, the local stock market suffered a massive plunge, with the KOSPI briefly crashing below the 6,000 mark. The index has dropped 30% this month alone, a steeper decline than during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Reporter Lee Tae-gwon has the details.
[Reporter]
6,023.66.
With every sector in the stock market declining, the KOSPI retreated to levels seen three months ago.
Both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ plummeted immediately after the market opened, triggering consecutive sell-sidecar measures.
Circuit breakers, which halt trading across both markets for 20 minutes, were simultaneously activated for the third time this year. The markets eventually closed down 10.8% and 7.7%, finishing at 6,023 and 705, respectively.
In particular, the KOSPI briefly sank to 5,992 during the session, breaking below the 6,000 threshold. It plunged 732 points on the day, marking the second-largest point drop in history.
In terms of percentage decline, it was the steepest drop since March 4, right after the outbreak of the war in Iran.
A total of 878 stocks declined, while only 36 advanced.
The KOSPI has fallen more than 28% this month alone, and is down over 35% compared to its intraday record high of 9,385 set last month.
Semiconductor heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix nosedived by 13.4% and 14.6%, respectively, finishing at 220,000 won and 1.55 million won. All top five companies by market capitalization suffered double-digit plunges.
Foreign investors drove the index lower by net selling nearly 5 trillion won, the largest amount in a month.
Following news over the weekend of Chinese DRAM maker ChangXin Memory Technologies listing on its domestic market, concerns spread that self-production of semiconductor equipment could intensify global memory competition.
[Interview / Lee Hyo-seop / Director of Financial Industry Research, Korea Capital Market Institute : If people use products from Chinese memory companies, the market shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix could relatively decrease, and concerns over increased supply for semiconductor firms appear to be rapidly reflecting in the market.]
The KOSPI return rate, which was the highest in the world at 101% this year, dropped to 42%.
Market capitalization also shrank by more than 2,000 trillion won from its peak to 4,933 trillion won, pushing its global stock market ranking down from 7th to 9th.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
Reported by Lee Mu-jin and Lee Byung-joo | Video by Kim Ho-jin | Graphics by Kim Ye-ji
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