The rout was triggered by an overnight Wall Street sell-off, where an index of U.S. semiconductor stocks logged a 12% drop, its steepest single-day decline since March 2020. Major domestic chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix bore the brunt of the downturn, each sliding more than 11% before recovering some ground. Meanwhile, regional indices including Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Taiwan’s Taiex have fallen 20% from their peak levels. South Korea's Finance Ministry announced that officials are actively monitoring conditions to take timely, preventive steps against excessive market volatility.
Key points
Growing investor fears regarding a slowdown in Big Tech spending on artificial intelligen…: Growing investor fears regarding a slowdown in Big Tech spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure triggered the steep global market downturn.
Concerns over tighter tech regulations following a potential Democratic Party sweep in Un…: Concerns over tighter tech regulations following a potential Democratic Party sweep in United States midterm elections accelerated the equity sell-off.
The latest decline leaves the KOSPI down nearly 46 percent from its record peak reached e…: The latest decline leaves the KOSPI down nearly 46 percent from its record peak reached earlier in June.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
Asian markets today: South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index plunged 8.5% in early trading on Friday, November 6, tracking a sharp sell-off in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor stocks on Wall Street overnight. Trading on the Korea Exchange was suspended for 20 minutes after the index triggered its first 8% circuit breaker shortly after the market opened.
The steep decline dragged the KOSPI below the 5,000 mark, falling short of the target set by President Lee Jae Myung during his presidential campaign in 2025. The benchmark dropped as much as 8.8% before paring some losses.
The sell-off followed a global market rout on Thursday, which saw the Nasdaq 100 tumble 6.4%, wiping out a record $2.3 trillion in market capitalisation. South Korean equities bore the brunt of the global AI-related sell-off, given the country's heavy dependence on its two semiconductor giants.
The KOSPI had earlier surged past 9,000 in the summer, fuelled by the AI boom and strong gains in chipmakers, making South Korea one of the world's best-performing equity markets. However, concerns over a potential slowdown in AI infrastructure spending,…
Investors aggressively unwound speculative and leveraged positions as regulatory threats collided with doubts surrounding the profitability of massive artificial intelligence spending. Political developments, including Democratic congressional victories and state-level pledges targeting data-center construction, triggered rapid capital flight from high-valuation assets. The resulting contagion quickly bypassed pure technology plays to pummel heavily shorted equities, small-cap benchmarks, and defensive consumer gi…
Financial regulators are adjusting requirements on leveraged equity investments to halt the automatic liquidation of client positions. The intervention targets margin accounts where falling asset values typically trigger mandatory disposals. By implementing these relaxed parameters, authorities intend to reduce market volatility driven by cascading portfolio sell-offs.
Shares of the Japanese investment holding firm suffered a sharp downturn during the current trading session. Market participants witnessed equity prices tumble amid emerging developments surrounding the firm's trading performance today. Extended context and clarifying information regarding the exact causes behind this sudden price drop are currently developing.