Blue Wave Slams KOSPI... What Stocks Did Foreigners Dump?

[Anchor]

As the Democratic landslide in the U.S. midterm elections created a "blue wave," South Korea's stock market turned blue today (Nov. 5). With significant impacts expected on everything from semiconductors to the broader South Korean economy, the KOSPI plummeted by more than 5%. Tonight's 8 O'Clock News will take an in-depth look at how far the fallout from the U.S. midterm elections will spread.

First, reporter Lee Seong-hoon has the details.

[Reporter]

The Democratic landslide swept through the domestic stock market like a massive tsunami.

The KOSPI plunged by more than 5% to drop to the 5,300 range, hitting its lowest level in seven months.

The KOSDAQ also surrendered the 700 mark.

Sell-sidecars were triggered in both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets.

Samsung Electronics dropped as low as 190,000 won during intraday trading before barely managing to defend the "200,000-won" mark, while SK Hynix also tumbled by more than 9%.

Foreign selling was particularly fierce, centered on large-cap semiconductor stocks. Foreigners dumped nearly 3.4 trillion won in the securities market alone.

Foreigners have unloaded nearly 6 trillion won worth of stocks over yesterday and today, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix accounting for nearly 80% of that total.

The biggest reason is that the Democratic Party, having won a landslide victory, has shown signs of tightening regulations on AI data center construction—citing massive power consumption and environmental issues, unlike the Trump administration.

Even though it has not yet become reality, shares of semiconductor and power equipment companies were crushed by panic.

[Park Sang-hyun / Researcher, iM Securities: As various countries invest in AI, GPUs are actually in short supply. Therefore, the possibility that a slight reduction in data center spending would cause a sharp plunge in overall GPU and South Korean semiconductor demand is quite low...]

Defense stocks also fell across the board on expectations that the U.S. could end the war in Iran, while analyses that oil prices could fall dragged down refinery stocks.

Conversely, Hyundai Motor and Kia rose by around 3% and 5%, respectively, on expectations that tariff pressures could ease.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video Coverage: Park Hyun-chul | Video Editing: Park Ji-in)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.