Japan and South Korea Stocks Hammered at Open: KOSPI Tumbles 5%, SK Hynix Plunges 9%, Samsung, Kioxia and SoftBank Follow Lower

T radingKey - Japanese and S outh Korean stock markets opened s harply lower, with the KOSPI i ndex tumbling 5% and the N ikkei 225 falling over 2 %. SK Hynix led the decline , plunging more than 9%, while S amsung Electronics, Kioxia, and S oftBank followed suit.

During t he Asian session on July 16, b oth markets opened significantly lower t oday, essentially erasing yesterday's gains . Specifically, the KOSPI index tumbled 5 .13%, falling below the 7,0 00 mark to temporarily stand at 6,91 0.49 points; Samsung Electronics f ell 5.28% to temporarily s tand at 265,000 w on; SK Hynix fell 9 .17%, breaking below the 1. 9 million mark to temporarily stand a t 1,891,000 won .

KOSPI Index Chart , Source: TradingView

Japanese s tocks also opened lower in tandem, w ith the Nikkei 225 index e rasing some of yesterday's gains , falling 2.36% to c urrently stand at 67,1 28.17 points; Kiox ia fell 7.36%, losing t he 70,000 mark to c urrently trade at 67,7 20 yen; SoftBank fell 4 .89%, nearing the 6,0 00 mark to currently trade at 6,04 9 yen.

The weak performance o f the US memory chip sector in a fter-hours trading, combined with p rofit-taking by short-term f unds in Asia-Pacific tech s tocks, was the primary driver b ehind the collective sharp pullback i n Japanese and South Korean markets d uring early trading today. In addition , senior officials from South Korea' s Ministry of Economy and Finance, t he Financial Supervisory Service, and o ther regulatory bodies held a coordination m eeting today to officially study policy r esponses to the impact of single -stock leveraged ETFs on the stock m arket, which represents a key p olicy focus for the market today .