▲ The KOSPI index is displayed at the dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 6th, after plunging more than 6% to narrowly close above the 5,000 mark. (Photo: Yonhap News)
The KOSPI plunged by over 6%, narrowly finishing the session just above the 5,000 threshold.
Today (the 6th), the KOSPI closed down 324.11 points, or 5,059.69, compared to the previous trading session.
This marks the lowest closing level in approximately seven months since it recorded 5,052.46 on March 31.
Over the past two days, including the previous session, the KOSPI has plummeted 624.11 points, or 10.98%.
Based on closing prices, it is down 44.5% from its peak of 9,114.55 recorded on June 22.
The KOSPI started 2.24% lower at 5,263.26 and extended its losses shortly after the open, sliding as much as 8.78% to 4,911.28.
This is the first time in nine months, since February 6, that the intraday index has fallen below the 5,000 mark.
Consequently, a stage-1 circuit breaker was triggered on the main bourse at 9:03 AM, suspending trading for 20 minutes.
Even after the circuit breaker was lifted, the sharp downward trend persisted, prompting a sell-sidecar to be triggered on the main market at 9:34 AM.
Amid the sharp decline, the KOSPI 200 Volatility Index surged 11.96% to finish at 65.17.
In terms of supply and demand, foreign investors drove the KOSPI down, net selling 2.769 trillion won.
Foreigners remained net sellers for the sixth consecutive session.
Conversely, institutional and retail investors were net buyers, purchasing 1.7041 trillion won and 601 billion won, respectively.
Notably, financial investment companies recorded a net purchase of 1.6207 trillion won, while other corporations showed a buying advantage of 464 billion won, influenced by SK Hynix's additional treasury stock purchases.
However, foreign investors maintained a net buying position of 687 billion won in the KOSPI 200 futures market as of 3:19 PM.
In the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won-dollar exchange rate stood at 1,356.6 won as of 3:30 PM, up 14.5 won from the previous session.
The KOSPI plummeted as overnight Wall Street experienced a sell-off led by technology stocks, including semiconductors, driven by concerns over AI data center regulations following a landslide victory by the Democratic Party.
Sentiment was further dampened by news reports that Microsoft was re-evaluating its Neocloud project, raising doubts about financing for AI infrastructure.
In the wake of this, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 5.52%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plummeted 12.25%.
As a result, domestic semiconductor heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix sharply dropped by up to 11.07% and 13.84%, respectively, exerting downward pressure on the index.
Samsung Electronics fell 6.35% to close regular trading at 188,700 won, losing its 200,000-won milestone, while SK Hynix plummeted 10.44% to close at 1,132,000 won.
On this day, foreign investors net sold 1.9205 trillion won of SK Hynix and 129.8 billion won of Samsung Electronics, respectively.
They ranked first and second in net sales by value.
Among top market cap shares, most declined, including SK Square (-10.51%), LG Energy Solution (-2.46%), and Samsung Biologics (-0.26%), while NAVER (2.87%), Samsung SDS (6.34%), and SK Telecom (0.26%) advanced.
By sector, electrical and electronics (-7.94%), which includes semiconductors, medical and precision instruments (-7.24%), and manufacturing (-6.84%) declined, whereas communications (2.10%) and IT services (1.51%) gained ground.
In response to the KOSPI plunge, relevant authorities decided during a joint market situation inspection meeting to exempt securities firms from the mandatory 140% maintenance margin ratio for credit financing for three months.
Among KOSPI constituents, 760 stocks declined while 131 advanced.
Twenty stocks remained unchanged.
The KOSDAQ index closed down 34.14 points, or 5.03%, at 644.27.
The index started down 23.98 points at 654.43 and widened its losses early in the session, dropping as much as 7.26% to 629.17.
Consequently, a sell-sidecar was also triggered on the KOSDAQ market at 9:06 AM.
Sell-sidecars were triggered on both stock markets for two consecutive days.
In the KOSDAQ market, foreign and retail investors net sold 101.4 billion won and 110.5 billion won, respectively, while institutional investors net bought 205.7 billion won.
Among top KOSDAQ shares, most declined, including Alteogen (-6.00%), EcoPro (-6.61%), and EcoPro BM (-7.69%), whereas Roborized (1.14%), PharmaResearch (3.78%), and Peptron (2.99%) rose.
Among index constituents, 1,439 stocks declined and 251 advanced.
Fifty-eight stocks remained flat.
Trading values for the main KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets stood at 27.698 trillion won and 4.77 trillion won, respectively.
The total trading value for the pre-market and regular market on alternative exchange Nextrade amounted to 12.5668 trillion won.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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