SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics are experiencing sharp declines of 8% and 4% respectively during intraday trading.
As of 10:42 a.m. today (July 13) on the KOSPI market, SK Hynix is trading at 2,002,000 won, down 8.17% from the previous session.
SK Hynix, which opened at 2,113,000 won—a 3.07% decrease—at one point plunged 8.94% to 1,985,000 won, falling below the 2 million won threshold.
At the same time, Samsung Electronics is trading at 273,500 won, down 4.04% from the previous session.
Samsung Electronics also saw its losses widen at one point, falling to 270,000 won, a 5.26% decline.
On July 10, the final trading day of last week, the three major U.S. stock indices closed with gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index rose 0.29% and 0.42% respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite index also climbed 0.29%.
In particular, SK Hynix, which entered the Nasdaq through an American Depositary Receipt (ADR) listing, closed at 168.49 dollars, up 13% from its offering price, which was 15.78% higher than the closing price of its domestic shares (2,180,000 won) last week.
However, U.S. President Donald Trump officially declared the end of the truce with Iran over the weekend, and Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a gateway for global energy supply.
International oil prices have surged as the U.S. Central Command announced that it began additional airstrikes against Iran starting at 6:00 a.m. today, Korea Standard Time.
Furthermore, in the case of SK Hynix, suggestions by some foreign institutions to "buy ADRs and short the domestic shares" appear to have negatively impacted investor sentiment in the short term.
Meanwhile, as of this time in the KOSPI market, individual investors are net buying 830.6 billion won, while foreign and institutional investors are net selling 414.7 billion won and 441.5 billion won, respectively.
In the KOSPI electrical and electronics sector, which includes Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, individual investors are also net buying 1.1267 trillion won, while foreign and institutional investors are net selling 475 billion won and 682.7 billion won, respectively.