South Korea stocks plunge over 6% as chip selloff halts trading

what happened

According to Newsmetry API, South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI dropped more than 6% on Tuesday, prompting a temporary restriction on trading. The selloff followed an overnight decline in US memory-chip producer Micron Technology after reports pointed to rapid technological gains by Chinese rival ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT). At 9:47 a.m. local time, the Korea Exchange paused programme-based sell orders for five minutes after the KOSPI 200 futures gauge declined 5.08%, or 51.20 points, to 955.02.

At 0213 GMT, the KOSPI was down 382.18 points, or 5.93%, at 6,002.06. A fifth consecutive decline would give the index its longest losing run since September 2024. Kang Jin-hyuk, an analyst at Shinhan Investment & Securities, said growing concern that Chinese chipmakers were closing the technology gap with global competitors had weighed on South Korea’s technology-heavy market. In a note, he linked the weaker memory-chip sentiment to warnings from semiconductor executives and CXMT’s rapid progress.

Samsung Electronics dropped 7.19%, while SK Hynix fell 8.72%. LG Energy Solution declined 4.15%, Hyundai Motor lost 5.78%, Kia Corp slipped 3.52%, POSCO Holdings shed 4.85% and Samsung BioLogics decreased 1.00%. Of 915 traded issues, 66 advanced and 832 declined. Foreign investors were net sellers of shares worth 2,065.3 billion won. The won traded at 1,338.8 per dollar, down 0.22% from the previous close of 1,335.8. The three-year Korean Treasury yield fell 4.8 basis points to 3.874%, while the 10-year yield declined 6.9 basis points to 4.250%.

why it matters

The sharp losses in leading memory-chip companies show how concerns about CXMT’s competition affected technology-sector sentiment. Foreign selling, a weaker won and lower government-bond yields accompanied the broad market decline.

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