Constitution Day Saved the Country... "Make Monday a Temporary Holiday Too"

"Constitution Day saved the KOSPI." On the day of Constitution Day yesterday, online communities were flooded with posts expressing relief that while U.S. semiconductor stocks plummeted, South Korea avoided the shock due to the domestic stock market being closed for the holiday.

In fact, in the New York stock market on the 16th (local time), SK Hynix's American Depositary Receipts (ADR) plunged by 13.69%.

Nvidia and Alphabet also fell by 2.40% and 4.4%, respectively, and memory-related stocks such as Micron, SanDisk, Seagate, and Western Digital all dropped simultaneously.

The aftermath immediately hit Asian stock markets.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 4.03% in a single day, and at one point during the session, it dropped more than 6%, marking the fifth-largest decline in its history.

Semiconductor company Kioxia Holdings plummeted 16.1% from the previous trading day, falling to 52,110 yen, which is half the level of the all-time high it recorded last month.

In Taiwan, although TSMC announced second-quarter earnings that exceeded market expectations, semiconductor-related stocks fell together, causing the Taiex index to crash by 6.47%.

On the other hand, South Korea avoided the shock thanks to the market closure.

Posts such as "Constitution Day protected the country" appeared one after another on online communities and social media, though some also predicted that the shock would be unavoidable once the market opens on Monday.

Amid this situation, SK Chairman Chey Tae-won said at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry summer forum yesterday, "Since memory is continuously needed, it will trend upward over time." He added, "I don't know what the stock price will be next month, but holding onto your stocks without buying and selling is a good way to preserve your assets," attempting to reassure investors.

He continued, "AI is still like a four-year-old child, but it will continue to need memory to become an adult," and projected that "demand is bound to increase exponentially in the future."

Reported by Lee Ho-geon | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Lee Jung-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.