South Korea held an urgent meeting about the stock market on July 29th, after the KOSPI lost 864.5 trillion won in value over the previous two days of trading.
The stock market dropped sharply on Wednesday, closing at 5,663.24 – a decrease of 5.98%. This caused trading to temporarily halt across the board for the second day in a row.
South Korea’s Financial Authorities Meet Amid KOSPI’s Slide
South Korea’s Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol led a meeting starting at 6 p.m. local time, Bloomberg reported. Joining him were the Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song, the Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eog-weon, and the Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Chan-jin, according to media reports.
On July 29th, members of parliament grilled top officials with repeated questions. They determined that a portion of the recent market decline was linked to risky investment products introduced in May.
Legislators claimed the ETFs made price fluctuations worse. They explained that risky trading activity was focused on a few major Korean stocks, making the country’s stock market more unstable than others around the world.
Koo expressed regret during a hearing and admitted the products should have been investigated more thoroughly before being released. However, he maintained they were just one of multiple contributing factors.
We’ve already taken some actions, and we’re prepared to do more if necessary to stabilize the market, he stated.
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SK Hynix Missed Estimates Despite a Record Quarter
The meeting took place after a difficult period for South Korean stocks. Over the last month, the main stock market index, the KOSPI, fell by 32.54%, losing 2,731.41 points.
The market experienced significant losses over the two trading sessions, dropping a total of 1,092.51 points. On July 28th, the market value decreased by 600.33 trillion won, and on July 29th, it fell by another 264.20 trillion won.
The Korea Exchange stopped trading on both markets for two days in a row. This is the first time this has happened, triggering automatic trading halts on consecutive sessions.
SK Hynix’s stock price dropped on July 29th, even though the company reported its best quarterly results ever. While revenue reached 79.3 trillion won for the second quarter, this fell short of analysts’ forecasts of 84 trillion won.
Despite a 257% increase in revenue compared to last year, the company’s operating profit reached 60.54 trillion won – lower than the expected 64 trillion won. Consequently, the stock price fell by 9.61%, closing at 1,401,000 won.
Samsung Electronics, a major player in the market, closed at 208,500 won, experiencing a 5.23% decrease today. Over the last month, Samsung’s value has dropped by 35.45%, while SK Hynix has seen an even larger decline of 46.69%.
2026-07-29 13:42