Foreign sell-off causes South Korean stocks to lose 7,000 points; frequent sharp fluctuations trigger "sidecar" mechanism 35 times this year

Odaily News According to Korean media reports, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) briefly fell below the 7,000-point mark during trading, triggering the seventh circuit breaker this year. Due to renewed geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran, foreign and institutional investors engaged in heavy stock selling, leading to a sharp decline in the index. This marks the first time in nearly two months, since May 4, that KOSPI has dropped below 7,000 points during a trading session.

Data shows that foreign and institutional investors led the sell-off, with foreign investors net selling 2.23 trillion won and institutional investors net selling approximately 570 billion won. Meanwhile, individual investors were net buyers, purchasing nearly 2.7 trillion won. Among institutional investors, the National Pension Service net bought about 220 billion won. Recently, the South Korean stock market has experienced violent fluctuations, with sharp rallies and sudden plunges. During this morning's trading session, sell orders triggered the 18th "program trading halt mechanism" (sidecar mechanism) of the year, and the circuit breaker was activated in the afternoon.

Since the beginning of this year, the South Korean stock market has seen a total of 17 buy-side triggered "sidecar" operations and 18 sell-side triggered "sidecar" operations, amounting to 35 times in total.