KOSPI Plunges 5%, Won/Dollar Opens Around 1513
The financial market experienced significant turbulence on the 30th. The KOSPI index plunged over 5% in early trading, and the won/dollar exchange rate opened 4.5 won higher at 1513.4 won. According to the Korea Exchange, as of 9:09 AM today, the KOSPI index stood at 5195.16, down 4.48% (243.71 points) from the previous trading day's 5438.87.
Despite US President Donald Trump extending a pause on attacks on Iranian energy facilities, opening a possibility for negotiations, expectations for a de-escalation quickly faded amid Iran's hardline stance and reports of further troop deployments in the Middle East. As geopolitical uncertainty heightened, risk-off sentiment resurfaced, prompting foreign and institutional investors to sell off holdings simultaneously.
The semiconductor sector faced additional headwinds beyond geopolitical risks, with Google's announcement of its 'TurboQuant' technology acting as a further detractor. TurboQuant is a technology that significantly reduces memory usage while boosting artificial intelligence (AI) performance, sparking concerns about a potential decline in mid-to-long-term demand for memory semiconductors. Consequently, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also fell 1.69%, while Samsung Electronics traded down 3.73% to 173,000 won, and SK Hynix dropped 5.31% to 873,000 won compared to the previous trading day.
Most top market capitalization stocks saw declines. Hyundai Motor and Kia fell 5.45% and 5.46% respectively, followed by Hanwha Aerospace (-5.84%), SK Square (-6.07%), Samsung Biologics (-4.36%), KB Financial (-4.80%), and LG Energy Solution (-2.28%). The KOSDAQ index also retreated to the 1100 level, down 3.61% (41.23 points) to 1100.28, with major stocks like Ecopro (-0.87%), Alteogen (-3.97%), and Rainbow Robotics (-4.76%) experiencing concurrent weakness.
US stock markets also closed lower on the 27th (local time). The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.73% (793.47 points) to close at 45166.64, the S&P 500 declined 1.67% to 6368.85, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.15% to 20948.36.