KOSPI Plunges Below 6,000 Intraday As Foreigners Net-Sell 5 Trillion Won in Samsung, SK Hynix

[Anchor]

The domestic stock market suffered a historic plunge today (the 28th), with the KOSPI dropping more than 10% in a single day. As foreign investors offloaded nearly 5 trillion won worth of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix shares, the KOSPI even briefly collapsed below the 6,000 mark during trading.

Reporter Choi Seung-hun has the details.

[Reporter]

The KOSPI plummeted right from the opening bell.

Following a sidecar triggered to temporarily suspend program sell orders, a circuit breaker was even activated to completely halt stock trading.

The KOSPI tumbled more than 11% intraday to slip below the 6,000 threshold before narrowly recovering the 6,000 level.

The closing price finished at 6,023, down 732 points, or 10.8%, from yesterday.

This marks the second-largest drop in history, following June 23.

The KOSDAQ also closed sharply lower at 705, down 7.7%.

During the session, the 700 line was briefly breached for the first time since April of last year.

Driving the plunge were Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Samsung Electronics finished trading down 13% at 220,000 won, while SK Hynix crashed 14% to 1.55 million won.

Foreigners net-sold over 3.2 trillion won in SK Hynix and more than 1.6 trillion won in Samsung Electronics.

This means more than 4.8 trillion won in foreign selling was dumped on these two stocks alone in a single day.

Reports that China has commenced mass production of deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography equipment for semiconductor manufacturing froze investor sentiment.

Analysts suggest this reflects growing concerns that accelerated technological self-reliance in China's semiconductor industry could intensify competition with domestic companies.

Anxieties also persisted over the so-called AI circular investment structure, where artificial intelligence and semiconductor firms have been investing in each other to drive demand.

Previously, major semiconductor stocks such as ASML and NVIDIA slumped across the board on Wall Street, and as heavy selling by foreigners continued targeting large-cap semiconductor stocks in the domestic market, a "Black Tuesday" could not be avoided.

(Video Editing: Kim Ho-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.