South Korea’s Stocks See Worst Single-Day Crash on Record
The benchmark KOSPI shed 698.37 points — a staggering 12.06 percent — to settle at 5,093.54, while the tech-heavy KOSDAQ hemorrhaged 159.26 points, or 14.00 percent, closing at 978.44. Both declines are the steepest daily percentage losses ever recorded in their respective histories.
The rout followed an already brutal Tuesday session, during which the KOSPI and KOSDAQ fell 7.24 percent and 4.62 percent respectively — pushing the two-day combined losses on the KOSPI to nearly 19 percent.
Authorities at the Korea Exchange were forced to activate Level 1 circuit breakers on both markets Wednesday morning as selling accelerated. The KOSDAQ halt was triggered first at 11:16 a.m. local time (0216 GMT), with the KOSPI following roughly three minutes later. Under Korea Exchange rules, a Level 1 suspension kicks in when an index falls more than 8 percent for at least one minute, pausing all trades for 20 minutes before a 10-minute single-price auction precedes the resumption of trading. A Level 2 freeze requires a drop of 15 percent or more, while a Level 3 decline — 20 percent or beyond — triggers a full market closure for the remainder of the session.
Wednesday's selling was primarily driven by domestic institutional investors, though foreign buyers moved in to capitalize on lower prices, helping cushion both indices from breaching the more severe thresholds.
The carnage stretched across every major sector. Chipmaking titan Samsung Electronics tumbled 11.74 percent, with rival SK Hynix falling 9.58 percent. Automaker Hyundai Motor was among the hardest hit, cratering 15.80 percent, while battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution declined 11.58 percent. Biopharmaceutical contract giant Samsung Biologics dropped 9.82 percent, and defense firm Hanwha Aerospace retreated 7.61 percent. Shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries sank 13.39 percent, and energy infrastructure company Doosan Enerbility suffered one of the session's steepest losses at 16.82 percent.
On the currency front, the South Korean won weakened to 1,476.2 per U.S. dollar as of 3:30 p.m. local time — a decline of 10.1 won from the previous session's close — reflecting the broader flight from risk assets.
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