South Korean Stocks Face Another Bloodbath: Kospi Tumbles 4%, Samsung and SK Hynix Slump Over 3%

TradingKey - KOSPI Index tumbles over 4% as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both fall over 3%, once again giving up key levels.

In Asian trading on July 20, South Korean stocks ultimately failed to sustain the brief, volatile rebound seen in the morning session, instead capitulating all the way to the close under relentless afternoon pressure from panic selling and programmatic sell orders. The KOSPI Index ultimately plunged 4.46% to close at 6,516.28 points, testing the 6,500 mark once again.

KOSPI Index chart, Source: TradingView

South Korean heavyweight stocks retreated across the board, with tech giants continuing to serve as cash sources. Samsung Electronics faced indiscriminate capital sell-offs, closing down 3.73% to once again drop below the 250,000 won mark and settle at 245,500 won, a new low since May 6. Meanwhile, although SK Hynix put up a brief resistance during intraday trading as a massive premium on its US ADRs triggered some overseas ETF substitution buying, it was ultimately dragged lower in late trading by the market-wide deleveraging tsunami, closing 3.64% lower to once again fall below the 1.8 million won mark and finish at 1,775,000 won.

Japanese markets were closed today for the 'Marine Day' holiday, escaping today's second wave of heavy losses in the Asia-Pacific semiconductor sector. However, given that semiconductor-heavy markets such as South Korea and Taiwan remained extremely weak on Monday, and with Nikkei futures on the Osaka Exchange (OSE) continuing to face pressure in after-hours trading today, the Japanese stock market is expected to face a grueling catch-up selling test when it resumes trading tomorrow.