Kospi Plunges 8.95% to 6,806.93 at Close; SK Hynix Slides 15%

The Kospi tumbled to the 6,800 level as heavy selling swept through the market. A sell-side sidecar and a circuit breaker were triggered during the session, but neither stemmed the rout.

The benchmark initially held up against rising military tensions in the Middle East. But aggressive profit-taking in the market leaders that had driven the previous rally spilled over into broader panic selling.

In a rare session, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, SK Square and Samsung Electro-Mechanics — the four largest stocks by market capitalization — all plunged more than 10%.

On July 13, the Kospi closed at 6,806.93, down 669.01 points, or 8.95%, from the previous session.

The index briefly moved around flat shortly after the open and at one point reclaimed the 7,500 mark. But it turned sharply lower from about 9:30 a.m. At about 10:34 a.m., the exchange temporarily suspended the validity of program sell orders under a sell-side sidecar. The selloff did not ease, and at about 1:28 p.m. a first-stage circuit breaker was triggered, halting trading for 20 minutes. Even after trading resumed, fear persisted, and the index closed about 1 percentage point below the level at which the circuit breaker was activated.

SK Hynix led the market lower. The stock plunged 15.37% to close at 1,845,000 won, breaking below the 2 million won level. Korea Investment & Securities lowered its earnings estimates before the market opened, souring investor sentiment. Chae Min-sook, an analyst at the brokerage, said the revision reflected more realistic pricing assumptions based on long-term agreements, not concerns about earnings. The weaker profit outlook overshadowed a positive signal from the company’s American depositary receipts, which began trading in New York last weekend and had jumped 12.76% from their $149 offering price.

Samsung Electronics fell 10.70%, while SK Square dropped 17.60% and Samsung Electro-Mechanics slid 18.62%.

Han Kyung-woo, Hankyung.com reporter case@hankyung.com