[Anchor]

The KOSPI index briefly plunged by over 6 percent, falling below the 8,000-point mark. Analysts attribute this to the sharp decline in U.S. technology stocks earlier today (July 2).

Here is the report from Jung Jun-ho.

[Reporter]

The KOSPI opened at 7,897 points, down 4.8 percent from the previous trading day.

This marks the first time in 21 days since June 11 that the KOSPI has dropped below the 8,000-point threshold.

The downward trend continued after the market opened, triggering a sidecar—a temporary suspension of program trading—for five minutes, just seven minutes into the session.

Samsung Electronics saw its shares fall by more than 8 percent at one point, sliding to the 280,000 won range, while SK Hynix plummeted over 9 percent to the 2.32 million won range.

After falling by as much as 6 percent, the KOSPI began to rebound around 9:50 a.m. As of 11:00 a.m., it had recovered to 8,060.28 points, down 2.9 percent.

The KOSDAQ index stood at 896.97 points, down 3.4 percent.

The volatility is attributed to the sharp drop in U.S. technology stocks during the previous trading session.

Meta announced plans to sell its surplus computing resources, built for AI infrastructure, to external parties. This sparked concerns over overinvestment in big tech and raised the possibility that demand for semiconductors may have peaked.

Compounded by reports that Apple is considering the adoption of Chinese memory chips, semiconductor stocks such as Micron and SanDisk plunged by more than 10 percent in New York, while Nvidia fell 1.25 percent.

This sentiment hit domestic semiconductor firms like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix hard, while Japan's Kioxia Holdings also fell 12 percent as of 10:40 a.m.

The won-dollar exchange rate opened at 1,552.3 won, down 2.6 won from the previous trading day, and has been maintaining the 1,550 won level.

Video by Kim Jin-won