[Anchor]

Triggered by soaring international oil prices, the South Korean stock market plummeted by more than 5%. As severe volatility with sharp ups and downs continues, financial authorities have decided to move up the implementation of tightened deposit requirements for single-stock leverage products from next month to the end of this month.

Reporter Lee Tae-gwon has the details.

[Reporter]

The Kospi, which had recovered the 7,000 mark yesterday (the 23rd), plunged right after the market opened, falling back into the 6,000s in just a single day.

A sidecar was triggered for the 41st time this year, and the index ultimately closed down 5.7% at 6,690.

As concerns over inflation grew due to surging international oil prices, market interest rates moved first on expectations that U.S. benchmark interest rates would face upward pressure.

The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds rose to 4.7%, a peak not seen in a year and a half, impacting the domestic stock market.

[Park Sang-hyun / Senior Research Fellow, iM Securities : When interest rates rise, it could stimulate concerns that capital expenditures themselves by big tech companies might slow down, which ultimately connects to having a negative impact on the domestic semiconductor market.]

The two leading semiconductor giants plummeted by more than 7%, and foreign investors net sold over 3.2 trillion won, marking the first net sell of the week.

Amid criticisms over excessive volatility, President Lee Jae-myung even ordered a swift response regarding single-stock leverage ETFs on the 21st, prompting financial authorities to accelerate the implementation of supplementary measures originally scheduled for next month.

First, starting on the 31st, the basic deposit requirement will be raised from 10 million won to 30 million won.

Securities such as stocks and bonds, which were previously recognized as deposits up to 70% of their market value, will no longer be accepted, and the entire 30 million won must be in cash.

If securities were sold to meet the deposit criteria, the proceeds will only be recognized as a deposit after two trading days when the funds are actually credited in cash.

Since same-day purchases are not possible using the proceeds from sales, repeated day trading will be blocked unless the full 30 million won in cash is tied up.

Starting August 19, the discrepancy rate—the difference between the trading price of leverage ETFs and their actual asset value—will be managed more strictly, tightened from the current 3% to 2%.

(Photo: Yonhap News / Video by Park Jin-ho / Video Editing by Jung Yong-hwa / Design by Kim Han-gil)