KOSPI Closes at 7,600 Amid Semiconductor Stock Rout... KOSDAQ Also Plunges

Sharp Decline in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix-Related Stocks
Sell-Sidecar Triggered on Both KOSPI and KOSDAQ During Trading Hours

The Korean stock market closed with a steep drop on July 2. Both foreign investors and institutions engaged in heavy selling, leading to a plunge of over 7%. The KOSDAQ also fell by more than 6%, with a flood of sell orders centered on semiconductor equipment stocks.

On the 2nd, when the KOSPI started with a sharp drop, the status board showing the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices is displayed in the dealing room of Hana Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

On this day, the KOSPI finished at 7,648.09, down 665.32 points (7.89%) from the previous trading session. The index opened at 7,933.10, a decline of 370.3 points (4.46%), and extended its losses from the early session. The Korea Exchange triggered a sell-side car, temporarily suspending the validity of program sell orders, after a sharp drop in KOSPI 200 futures early in the session. In terms of trading volume, foreigners were net sellers of 4.4041 trillion won, and institutions sold a net 2.0716 trillion won. Individual investors absorbed the sell-off, making net purchases exceeding 6 trillion won.

By sector, electrical and electronics (-11.11%) saw the largest decline. Manufacturing (-9.15%), medical precision instruments (-6.17%), securities (-5.57%), machinery and equipment (-4.65%), and financials (-4.03%) also closed lower. In contrast, defensive sectors such as entertainment and culture (3.28%), food, beverages and tobacco (2.47%), textiles and apparel (2.46%), and electricity and gas (1.20%) managed to end higher.

Among large-cap stocks, major semiconductor and electrical/electronics companies suffered particularly steep losses. SK hynix (-14.57%), SK Square (-13.20%), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (-12.65%), and SK Inc. (-10.48%) all posted double-digit declines. Samsung Electronics (-9.06%), Samsung Electronics (preferred) (-7.73%), and Samsung C&T (-6.34%) also saw significant drops.

The decline was influenced by the 6.3% plunge in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index on the New York Stock Exchange overnight. Broadcom fell 2.23%, Micron 10.57%, SanDisk 10.62%, Nvidia 1.25%, Intel 9.03%, Qualcomm 1.55%, and AMD 6.89%. Worries about insufficient memory supply intensified after Meta announced it would enter the cloud business using surplus computing resources. This has fueled market anxiety that demand may not be sufficient given the scale of investment.

On the other hand, Shinhan Financial Group (6.02%), KB Financial Group (4.10%), Kia (2.61%), Hanwha Aerospace (2.29%), and LG Energy Solution (1.72%) posted gains. Even amid the market rout, financial stocks and some defense and secondary battery stocks held up relatively well.

The KOSDAQ index closed at 866.72, down 62.63 points (6.74%) from the previous session. The index opened at 904.53, down 24.82 points (2.67%), before extending its losses. Foreign investors sold a net 194.3 billion won, institutions sold 357.5 billion won, while individuals were net buyers of 535.8 billion won. As the decline accelerated in the afternoon, a sell-side car was also triggered in the KOSDAQ market.

Among top KOSDAQ market cap stocks, semiconductor equipment shares led the sharp declines. Simmtech (-20.72%) and Wonik IPS (-20.53%) both plunged more than 20%. Eugene Technology (-15.11%), PSK (-13.48%), and EO Technics (-11.61%) also saw sharp drops. Samchundang Pharm (-8.72%), LIG Nex1 (-8.08%), Padu (-7.99%), Ecopro (-6.56%), Rainbow Robotics (-6.55%), and Kolon TissueGene (-6.34%) also closed lower.

Jung Eun Lim, a researcher at KB Securities, commented, "Of the 4.4 trillion won in net KOSPI selling, 3.5 trillion won was concentrated in the electrical and electronics sector, while sector rotation spread to non-AI sectors such as banks, cosmetics, and defense." She added, "Tonight, the U.S. June nonfarm payrolls and unemployment rate are scheduled for release, which will be a key event to gauge the future path of interest rates."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.