[Anchor]
The domestic stock market suffered a brutal "Black Thursday," plunging more than 7% as concerns over the profitability of AI investments and rising interest rate pressures converged. Circuit breakers were triggered during trading for both the Kospi and Kosdaq, prompting financial authorities to hold an emergency inspection meeting and take steps to stabilize the market.
Lee Seong-hoon reports.
[Reporter]
The Kospi and Kosdaq finished trading with a nosedive of over 7%.
The Kospi closed down 454 points, or 7.57%, at 5,554, while the Kosdaq also ended the session 7.65% lower at 760.
Notably, the Kospi extended its losing streak to 7 consecutive trading sessions, plummeting 21% during this period alone.
Sell sidecars were triggered consecutively across both markets early in the session, and as the index slumped by over 8% in the afternoon, circuit breakers were even activated.
In the main bourse, foreign investors net sold more than 3.6 trillion won worth of shares during the session, driving the market downturn.
Large-cap semiconductor shares suffered heavy losses, with Samsung Electronics closing down 9% and SK Hynix plunging over 11%.
Market sentiment is seen to have deteriorated as doubts resurfaced over the profitability of AI infrastructure investments, compounded by intensifying interest rate burdens driven by U.S. inflation.
Market research firm Gartner forecasted that generating 8.5 trillion dollars in revenue will be necessary by 2030 to cover AI infrastructure investment and financing costs, whereas actual data center-related revenue is projected to fall short at a maximum of 3.6 trillion dollars.
In addition, concerns over technological catching-up and supply expansion by Chinese semiconductor firms added further downward pressure on domestic chip stocks.
Financial authorities held an emergency inspection meeting to monitor supply and demand conditions among foreign and institutional investors, deciding to take strict action against market-disturbing activities such as spreading false rumors and price manipulation.
Experts noted that volatility is likely to persist for the time being, while pointing out that the earnings and cash flows of major corporations such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, to be announced starting later this month, will serve as key variables.
[Video Editing: Lee Seung-jin]
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