[Anchor]

The KOSPI plummeted by over 6%, breaking below the 6,000 mark for the first time in about two months. The sharp decline in large-cap semiconductor stocks appears to be driven by concerns over technological catching-up by Chinese memory manufacturers and the subsequent weakness in U.S. semiconductor shares.

Reporter Kim Hye-min has the details.

[Reporter]

Starting the session with a steep 3.1% decline, the KOSPI further expanded its losses during trading, breaking through both the 6,100 and 6,000 thresholds.

Following a 3.7% plunge yesterday (the 12th), which marked the largest drop since early last month, the index tumbled by another 6% in just a single day.

This marks the first time in about two and a half months, since July 31, that the KOSPI index has fallen below the 6,000 line.

As the losses deepened, a sell sidecar was triggered at around 9:47 AM.

The activation of the KOSPI sell sidecar also occurred for the first time in about two months, following the previous instance on August 19.

Foreign investors drove down the index by offloading more than 2 trillion won, while retail and institutional investors remain net buyers.

Declining stocks heavily outnumber advancing ones, with around 820 listed companies on the main bourse trading lower, compared to only about 70 advancing issues.

Semiconductor heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are also experiencing steep drops.

Samsung Electronics is down by over 7% in the 230,000 won range, while SK Hynix is recording a 9% plunge at 1.46 million won.

On the U.S. stock market last night, concerns over technological catching-up by Chinese memory makers and big tech firms expanding their own custom artificial intelligence chips weighed heavily on semiconductor stocks.

Consequently, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell by more than 2%, while Micron dropped 3.9% and Lam Research declined 2.9%.

Geopolitical instability in the Middle East further dampened investor sentiment.

Experts explained that tensions escalated following the Houthi rebel attack on a Saudi Arabian airport and oil prices rose, leading to a prominent weakness in growth stocks, centered around semiconductors.

[Video Editing: So Ji-hye]