[Anchor]

The KOSPI, which plunged for two consecutive days, attempted a rebound today (the 30th), but ultimately closed down more than 1%. The government announced strong additional regulatory measures to set investment limits on single-stock leverage products, which have been pointed out as the cause of the increased volatility. However, critics are calling it a belated response.

Reporter Min Gyeongho has the details.

[Reporter]

The single-stock leverage product for SK hynix plummeted more than 80% from its peak and dropped over 50% in just the last five trading sessions.

As losses mounted for investors in single-stock leverage products amid the continued sharp decline in semiconductor shares, the government decided to additionally introduce strong quantitative regulation measures to set individual investment limits.

The limits will be set by each securities firm for each account, and the government cited "20% of the total investment amount" as an example.

The goal is to reduce the ripple effect on individual accounts even if sharp fluctuations continue and to curb excessive investment demand.

In addition, the government decided to impose extra costs on investors who excessively trade single-stock leverage products and to establish legal grounds for authorities to take market stabilization measures, such as adjusting leverage multipliers in emergency situations.

As measures to strengthen the deposit requirement to 30 million won in cash take effect starting tomorrow, the government stated that it will implement additional complementary measures as quickly as possible.

[Lee Jun-seo / Professor of Business Administration, Dongguk University : It will exert a curbing effect on a significant portion of demand... However, backlash is also expected, with complaints asking if this is an investment product only for the rich.]

Meanwhile, as pointings continue that the government is resorting to stopgap and belated regulations, the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice criticized the introduction of single-stock leverage products as a policy failure.

[Park Jung-jun / Investor in his 30s, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul : I think making the market unstable might be somewhat different from the government's original purpose.]

Our market, where simultaneous circuit breakers were triggered for the KOSPI and KSDaq for two straight days, reduced its losses but fell again today.

The KOSPI rose more than 5% at one point, but soon turned downward and ultimately closed down about 1% at 5,593.

Amid the failure of Samsung Electronics' record-breaking second-quarter earnings announcement to be recognized as a definite turning point for the trend, individuals net sold 1.4 trillion won, driving the decline.

(Video reporting: Choi Ho-jun, Video editing: Kim Jong-tae)