South Korea's KOSPI plunges over 7%, triggering trading halt as tech stocks lead selloff
South Korea's KOSPI index plunged over 7% on Thursday, triggering a five-minute "sidecar" trading halt as sell orders overwhelmed buyers, marking the benchmark's steepest decline in its longest losing streak since September 2024. Major tech stocks led the selloff, with Samsung Electronics falling 9.05% and SK Hynix losing 11.06%, tracking a tech-led decline on Wall Street driven by sticky US inflation data. Foreign investors were net sellers of shares worth 355.6 billion won, while Treasury bond yields dipped slightly amid the market instability. Analysts suggest the market is undergoing price discovery after corporate buybacks at Samsung and SK Hynix concluded, though J.P. Morgan expects AI stocks to recover substantially over the next six to twelve months. The won strengthened slightly to 1,339.5 per dollar.