[Anchor]

The KOSPI surged at the opening today (July 15), reclaiming the 7,000-point mark for the first time in three trading days, and a buy sidecar was triggered. As concerns grow over the extreme volatility in the domestic stock market, an emergency meeting was held to assess the market situation regarding single-stock leveraged ETFs.

Report by Kim Hye-min.

[Reporter]

The KOSPI index opened at 7,082, up 3.3%, and showed a sharp rise from the beginning of the session.

At 9:06 a.m., a buy sidecar was triggered, suspending the effectiveness of program buy orders for five minutes. This marks the 36th time this has occurred this year alone.

Analysts attribute this to the U.S. consumer price inflation rate for June, released last night, which fell compared to the previous month, partially easing concerns over interest rate hikes.

As investor sentiment improved, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices saw slight gains, and memory semiconductor stocks surged across the board.

In particular, SK Hynix ADR skyrocketed by 27.29%, hitting its highest price since its listing on July 10.

This is interpreted as being driven by British investment bank Barclays, which raised its target price to 330 dollars, forecasting a prolonged shortage in memory supply.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are also trading with sharp gains of around 5% and 10%, respectively.

The KOSDAQ also reclaimed the 800-point mark, and a buy sidecar was triggered around 9:17 a.m.

With buy and sell sidecars being triggered almost daily, concerns over the extreme volatility in the market are mounting.

The Korea Financial Investment Association held an emergency meeting yesterday with CEOs of major domestic securities firms to assess the market situation regarding single-stock leveraged ETFs for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Participants reportedly reached a consensus on raising the current 10 million won minimum deposit requirement to curb excessive leveraged investment. They also discussed measures to reduce the impact of daily rebalancing trades, inherent to single-stock leveraged products, on the underlying asset market.

(Video Editing: Jung Yong-hwa)