South Korea Stock Market Triggers Circuit Breaker. Kioxia, SK Hynix Suffer Double-Digit Crashes, Samsung Plummets 9%, While SoftBank Bucks Trend to Surge.

TradingKey - Japanese and South Korean stocks plummeted, with the KOSPI index falling nearly 8%, SK Hynix plunging over 14%, Kioxia dropping over 13%, and Samsung declining over 9%, while SoftBank bucked the trend to rise.

During the Asian trading session on July 2, Japanese and South Korean stock markets experienced a dramatic plunge, with South Korean stocks triggering circuit breakers. The KOSPI index tumbled 7.89%, falling below the 8,000-point milestone to close at 7,648.10, while the Nikkei 225 index saw a slightly smaller decline, closing down 2.47% at 68,733.10.

KOSPI Index Chart, Source: TradingView

In terms of individual stocks, heavyweights were broadly hit hard. SK Hynix was the worst performer, plunging 14.57% to close at 2,187,000 Korean won, followed by Kioxia, which fell 13.47% to close at 76,260 yen. Samsung Electronics plummeted 9.06% to close at 286,000 Korean won.

Amid a brutal market sell-off where Japanese and South Korean stocks suffered a collective systemic bloodbath triggered by rumors of Meta's computing power overcapacity and panic over chip inventory destocking, SoftBank Group demonstrated remarkable resilience against the market trend, rising 3.25% to close at 6,195 yen. The driving force behind this was the resumption of its $10 billion loan negotiations.

SoftBank Stock Price Chart, Source: TradingView

According to a Reuters report on Thursday, SoftBank Group is seeking to restart negotiations for a $10 billion loan secured by its stake in OpenAI, promising that lenders can seek recourse against the group if the pledged OpenAI shares are insufficient to repay the loan. It is reported that SoftBank has invested over $60 billion in OpenAI, bringing its total ownership to approximately 13%, making it OpenAI's second-largest external shareholder.