Screens within the Hana Financial institution buying and selling room in Seoul’s Jung District present figures for the KOSPI and won-dollar change price on Nov. 5, 2025. (Yonhap)
After hovering to new heights for days on finish, Korea’s benchmark inventory index tumbled Wednesday, diving 6.2% at one level throughout buying and selling. After breaking the 4,200 mark on Monday, the KOSPI seemed poised to proceed its upward climb, however as an alternative fell a mixed 5.2% over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday.
The sell-off worn out 183 trillion received in market capitalization of listed shares as issues about an overvaluation of synthetic intelligence grew and buyers cashed out following current sharp rises in inventory costs.
After the NASDAQ fell by 2.04% Tuesday, pulled down by AI shares, and the costs of digital belongings like bitcoin and Ethereum tumbled, the Seoul inventory market opened Wednesday with a pointy decline instantly after the bell.
The KOSPI opened at 4,055.47, down 66.27 (1.61%) from the earlier buying and selling day. Inside six minutes of opening, it nosedived down previous the 4,000-mark threshold, crashing to the three,900 stage at round 10:25 am.
As buyers cashed out on most shares that skilled the sharpest rises, the index hit a low of three,867.81, falling by 6.2% (253.93) at one level throughout buying and selling. It’s the first time the KOSPI index dipped greater than 6% throughout a session since Aug. 5, 2024, when it noticed a ten.81% fall throughout the session and ended the buying and selling day down 8.77%.
The KOSPI market sell-side automotive, a mechanism that halts program buying and selling for 5 minutes throughout excessive market volatility, was activated for the primary time in seven months.
The index rebounded throughout the afternoon, closing at 4,004.42, down 117.32 (2.85%), narrowly remaining above the 4,000 mark.
The tech-focused KOSDAQ index plummeted 5.9% throughout buying and selling, closing at 2.66% down (901.89). The Nikkei 225 index skilled a big drop of 4.3% however ended the buying and selling day down 2.5%.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the 2 shares main the bull market, plunged significantly. After reaching a excessive of 111,100 received on Monday, Samsung Electronics tumbled to 96,700 received earlier than closing at 100,600 received, down 4.1% (4,300 received).
SK Hynix nosedived 9.2% to 532,000 received however managed to get better by the tip of the buying and selling day, ending at 579,000 received, down 1.19% (7,000 received).
Overseas buyers pulled the index down by making web gross sales of two.52 trillion received within the KOSPI market and 597.5 billion received within the KOSDAQ market.
Because the greenback index snuck again above 100, a powerful greenback despatched the won-dollar change price above 1,450 received throughout the session amid large-scale inventory promoting by overseas buyers, closing at 1,449.4 received, up 11.5 received from the earlier buying and selling day.
By Jeong Nam-ku, employees reporter
Please direct questions or feedback to [english@hani.co.kr]
