South Korean retail investors sell record Kospi shares after July volatility

Price Action Impact 4
โดย Investing.com·Read original
Summary · why it matters

South Korean retail investors sold a record amount of Kospi-listed shares on Friday after July's severe market reversal damaged confidence. The Kospi rebounded 18% on Friday but still ended July with a 22% monthly loss, its steepest decline since the global financial crisis, while trading in index constituents was halted four times during the month, setting a record for circuit-breaker suspensions. Retail traders had invested approximately 78 trillion won, or $54.2 billion, in Kospi shares during May and June, encouraged by the government's market-reform campaign and the launch of single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds, but those products have been blamed for worsening market swings as leveraged investors rushed to exit concentrated positions. South Korean authorities temporarily suspended new listings of single-stock leveraged ETFs in mid-July and have since promised further measures aimed at stabilising the market and limiting retail access to high-risk products. The sell-off centred on South Korea's largest AI-linked companies, with Samsung Electronics dropping 21% in July and SK Hynix falling 35%, and together the two memory-chip manufacturers account for more than half of the Kospi, leaving the wider index heavily exposed to changes in sentiment towards artificial intelligence and semiconductor spending.

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