KOSPI Plunges on Panic Selling... Falls Below 7,000 for First Time in Two Months

Drops Below 7,000 for the First Time Since Early May
Markets React Sharply to US-Iran Tensions and Semiconductor Earnings Concerns

On the 13th, employees were working in the dealing room at the headquarters of Hana Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul. On this day, the KOSPI plunged more than 6% during trading hours, falling below the 7,000 mark for the first time in over two months. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Panic selling has hit the KOSPI, causing it to plunge nearly 8%.

As of 1:18 p.m. on July 13, the KOSPI was trading at 6,887.68, down 7.87% from the previous trading day.

This is the first time the KOSPI has fallen below the 7,000 mark since May 4.

Due to the sharp decline, a sidecar was triggered on KOSPI sell orders early in the session. The losses have continued to deepen since then.

Foreign investors have recorded net selling of over 2 trillion won, while institutions have also sold more than 610 billion won. Only individual investors are net buyers, with a net purchase of 2.6 trillion won.

SK hynix has dropped more than 13%, falling to the upper 1.8 million won range. Samsung Electronics is also down more than 9%.

The sell-off is being attributed to two independent factors: the escalation of the war between the United States and Iran, and securities firms’ outlook that SK hynix’s second-quarter earnings will fall short of consensus estimates.

On this day, Korea Investment & Securities issued a report forecasting that SK hynix’s second-quarter operating profit will come in below the market consensus. Min Sook Chae, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, projected that SK hynix’s second-quarter operating profit would be 6.04 trillion won, which is 8% below the consensus estimate of 6.5 trillion won.

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