South Korea’s KOSPI closed at 7,246.79 on July 8, down 409.52 points, or 5.35%, leaving the benchmark more than 20% below its late-June record close. The index opened lower, rebounded to as much as 1.8% higher, then fell by as much as 6.1% before a sidecar curb temporarily halted program trading.
Samsung Electronics fell 6.3% and SK Hynix lost 5.7%, extending pressure on index heavyweights after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 4.7% overnight. The July 8 move followed a 4.9% KOSPI decline on July 7, when the exchange triggered a 20-minute market-wide circuit breaker after the index fell as much as 8.2% intraday.
Samsung had disclosed preliminary second-quarter estimates on July 7 of KRW 171 trillion in sales and KRW 89.4 trillion in operating profit. Reuters reported that foreign investors were net buyers of 335.9 billion won on July 8 after 13 straight sessions of selling, while the won strengthened about 1.2% to 1,498.5 per dollar, its strongest level since May 29.
Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said authorities would monitor volatility risk factors and referred to recently introduced single-stock leveraged ETFs tied to major chipmakers.