South Korea's KOSPI triggers circuit breaker in tech-led selloff

Business Recorder reported that South Korea's KOSPI index dropped 8% on Thursday, activating a circuit breaker after a gap of 2-1/2 months. The slide came as chip and tech shares on Wall Street fell after US inflation figures remained elevated, raising expectations of further interest rate increases. Samsung Electronics dropped 9.70% and SK Hynix shed 11.35%, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index having lost 4.3% overnight.

Shortly after 0338 GMT the index was 480.76 points lower at 5,528.05, its weakest reading since a 20-minute trading suspension on July 29. Counting this session, the KOSPI has now triggered its circuit breaker ten times in 2026 and 16 times across its existence. Calm had been returning after regulators tightened rules in July to rein in a retail frenzy around leveraged single-stock ETFs that began trading in May.

Foreign investors were on the sell side, unloading 2.9 trillion won of stock, roughly $2.15 billion. A J.P.Morgan strategist, Mixo Das, said the market is having difficulty finding fresh demand now that buybacks at Samsung and SK Hynix have wound down. On the onshore settlement platform, the currency traded at 1,348.2 per dollar, 0.44% weaker than the prior close of 1,342.3.