Japan and South Korea Stocks See ‘Black Monday’: Kospi Plummets to Trigger Circuit Breaker, SK Hynix Tumbles 15%, Samsung and Kioxia Face Indiscriminate Selling

TradingKey - Japanese and South Korean stock markets hit by Black Monday, with KOSPI plummeting over 8% to trigger a circuit breaker; Nikkei 225 fell nearly 2%, SK Hynix plunged 15%, Samsung dropped over 10%, and Kioxia tumbled over 12%.

During Asian trading hours on July 13, Asia-Pacific financial markets suffered a historic rout and extreme volatility. Both Japanese and South Korean stock markets experienced panic selling, with South Korean equities severely triggering a circuit breaker. Among them, the KOSPI Index completely lost the 7,000-point mark, falling over 600 points—a drop of nearly 9%—to close at 6,806.94. The Nikkei 225 Index was relatively resilient, falling 1.92% to close at 67,242.51.

KOSPI Index Chart, Source: TradingView

In terms of individual stocks, SoftBank was relatively resilient, while heavyweight stocks plummeted collectively. Specifically, SK Hynix plunged 15.37% to close at 1,845,000 KRW, hitting a near one-month low; Samsung Electronics fell 10.7% to close at 254,500 KRW, reaching a near two-month low; Kioxia dropped 12.86% to 67,100 JPY; and SoftBank edged down 0.09% to close at 6,364 JPY.

SK Hynix Stock Price Chart, Source: TradingView

Last Friday, SK Hynix completed a historic fundraising through an ADR offering in the US, with its stock price surging 13% that day. However, after a brief euphoria, the market quickly cooled down. The broader market began to strongly question whether the frenetic AI capital expenditures of global tech giants and their future profitability can keep pace with capacity expansion. This triggered collective profit-taking and liquidation by long-term institutional capital in high-valuation chip stocks.

This week brings the release of US June CPI inflation data and the upcoming congressional debut hearing of the Federal Reserve's 'new chairman' Warsh. Faced with the dual uncertainty of 'shocking inflation data' and 'the new leader potentially sending strong hawkish signals,' compounded by the escalation of the US-Iran conflict, capital chose 'cash is king' first thing on Monday, collectively fleeing the stock market.