KOSPI Plunges 4.5% to Close at 7,730, Slipping Below 8,000 Mark in 'Dizzying Volatility'

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) plunged more than 4 percent on Wednesday, continuing its rollercoaster ride after a sharp rebound the previous day.

Today (June 10), the KOSPI closed at 7,730.82, down 366.11 points, or 4.52 percent, from the previous session.

The index opened at 7,899.77, down 197.16 points, or 2.43 percent, and fell as low as 7,541.11 during intraday trading.

As losses widened in the afternoon, a "sell sidecar"—which temporarily suspends program trading sell orders—was triggered.

This marks the third consecutive trading day that a sidecar has been activated on the main board, following a sell sidecar on Monday (June 8) and a buy sidecar on Tuesday (June 9).

The KOSPI has shown "dizzying volatility" in recent days, repeatedly fluctuating between sharp gains and losses.

The index fell 478.82 points, or 5.54 percent, on Friday (June 5), and plunged 676.18 points, or 8.29 percent, on Monday (June 8) after the weekend, marking its second-largest point drop in history.

On Tuesday (June 9), it staged a massive rebound of 612.52 points, or 8.18 percent, setting a record for the largest-ever single-day point gain, only to fall back by 4.5 percent today.

The KOSPI 200 Volatility Index (VKOSPI), often dubbed Korea's "fear index," eased slightly from the historic highs of the previous day but remained elevated in the high 80s.

The VKOSPI closed at 88.35, down 3.16 percent from the previous day, after climbing as high as 89.17 during the day, reflecting deep investor anxiety.

For the second consecutive day, the index stayed above the 83.58 level recorded on March 5, right after the outbreak of the US-Iran conflict.

As of 3:30 p.m., the Korean won was trading at 1,512.1 won against the U.S. dollar in the Seoul foreign exchange market, down 22.9 won from the previous session's close.

Foreign and institutional investors drove the KOSPI down.

In the main market, foreign investors net sold 2.8042 trillion won, extending their selling streak to 23 consecutive trading days since May 7.

Institutional investors also posted a net sell of 2.2673 trillion won.

On the other hand, retail investors net bought 4.8611 trillion won, supporting the index's floor.

In the KOSPI 200 futures market, retail and foreign investors net sold 55.1 billion won and 55.2 billion won, respectively, while institutional investors alone net bought 134.7 billion won.

Overnight, the three major Wall Street indices closed mixed as Middle East tensions and concerns over high valuations of AI-related tech stocks resurfaced.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.17 percent, but the S&P 500 Index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.26 percent and 0.97 percent, respectively.

Major tech stocks such as Broadcom (-1.12%) and Nvidia (-0.22%) declined, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fluctuated by as much as 8.62 percent during the day before narrowing its losses to close 1.93 percent lower.

Uncertainty surrounding AI grew after Crusoe, a large-scale data center developer, officially announced that it had temporarily suspended development activities at the request of a big tech client.

This appeared to trigger profit-taking on major tech stocks that had recently surged.

U.S. President Donald Trump's hint at a strong response, claiming that Iran shot down a U.S. military Apache helicopter patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, also dampened market sentiment.

However, late in the Wall Street session, losses stabilized somewhat as the market shifted focus to President Trump's remarks suggesting that U.S.-Iran negotiations were imminent.

South Korea's market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell as low as 295,500 won during intraday trading but managed to defend the 300,000 won threshold, closing down 6.06 percent at 302,500 won.

SK Hynix, which posted a record-high daily gain of 15.91 percent the previous day, closed down 7.54 percent at 2,048,000 won.

SK Hynix also maintained the 2 million won mark at the close, though it dipped to 1,992,000 won during the session.

The secondary KOSDAQ index closed at 951.63, down 16.18 points, or 1.67 percent, from the previous day.

The index opened at 958.58, down 9.23 points, or 0.95 percent, and briefly turned positive early in the session.

However, it fluctuated repeatedly before ultimately closing lower.

In the KOSDAQ market, foreign and institutional investors also dragged down the index, net selling 7.2 billion won and 110.2 billion won, respectively.

Retail investors posted a net buy of 116.7 billion won.

The trading volume on the main KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets was valued at 39.6888 trillion won and 8.9918 trillion won, respectively.

The combined trading volume of the pre-market and main market on Nextrade, an alternative trading system (ATS), reached 22.2486 trillion won.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.