Kospi Closes Strongly Above 5,000 Mark After Circuit Breaker as SK Hynix Plunges Over 10%, Kioxia Drops Nearly 9%

TradingKey - KOSPI Reclaims 5,000 Level After Circuit Breaker, Japan and South Korea Stocks Pare Losses as SK Hynix and Samsung See Dip Buying.

During Asian trading hours on November 6, Japanese and South Korean equities saw their declines narrow significantly by the close, bolstered by afternoon inflows of state-backed support funds and technical dip-buying after severe panic selling in the morning; however, both markets still finished deeply in the red for the day.

The KOSPI plunged more than 8% intraday, breaking below the 5,000-point threshold and triggering a circuit breaker that halted trading across the board for 20 minutes. Following the trading resumption, support funds from South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS) and domestic institutions stepped in, driving the index to strongly reclaim the 5,000-point mark. The benchmark narrowed its decline to 6.02% by the close, finishing at 5,059.65 points. Samsung Electronics closed down 6.35% at 188,700 won, while SK Hynix tumbled 10.44% to 1,132,000 won.

KOSPI Index Chart, Source: TradingView

The Nikkei 225 gapped down below 60,000 points at the open, sinking more than 6% before paring losses in the afternoon amid value-buying support in the TOPIX, ultimately closing down 5.96% at 57,434.70 points; Kioxia fell 8.72% to end at 8,511 yen, while SoftBank plummeted 10.83% to 3,549 yen.

Late in the session, sovereign and public funds such as South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS) deployed market-stabilization funds to step in, while heavy bargain-hunting buy orders targeted Samsung Electronics and core Japanese assets whose valuations had undergone premium corrections, driving both countries' benchmark indices to pare losses substantially heading into the close.

The extreme margin liquidations and the afternoon rebound forming lower shadows across Asian equities today have partially absorbed market panic. If U.S. stocks, particularly AI giant Nvidia, can demonstrate strong spot buying at $180 later today, Japanese and South Korean stocks are poised for a sharp technical rebound from oversold levels next Monday.