[Edaily Reporter Kim Kyung-eun] On the 8th, the KOSPI continued a seesaw battle in the afternoon, with panic selling and bargain hunting clashing amid a decline of over 5%. Although the market recovered some losses early in the session following the activation of a circuit breaker, thanks to buying by retail and institutional investors, the rebound has been limited by continued large-scale net selling by foreign investors.

According to MP Doctor, as of 1:23 p.m., the KOSPI is trading at 7,724.81, down 435.78 points (5.34%) from the previous trading day. Extreme volatility is evident, with the gap between the intraday high (8,048.09) and low (7,442.73) exceeding 600 points. The KOSDAQ is also trading at 936.87, down 65.57 points (6.54%).
By investor type, foreign investors are leading the decline on the KOSPI with net sales of 1.2474 trillion won. Retail investors are countering this with net purchases of 939.7 billion won, while institutions are also buying 158.9 billion won. On the KOSDAQ, institutions are net buyers (+62.6 billion won), while retail investors and foreign investors are net sellers by 15.8 billion won and 18.2 billion won, respectively.
Kang Jin-hyuk, a senior researcher at Shinhan Investment Securities, analyzed, "This decline is more a matter of multiple deleveraging (a decline in valuation) than earnings erosion," adding, "The 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio (PER) has fallen to 7.83 times, reaching the bottom 4% level since 2023." He explained that risk-averse sentiment spread after U.S. May employment figures came in at 172,000—more than double the forecast of 85,000—and the U.S. 30-year bond yield surpassed 5%, causing the fear index (VIX) to surge by 39.7%.
The catalyst for the rebound came from remarks by Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA. During his visit to South Korea, CEO Huang stated that “a stock price decline is a buying opportunity,” and news of a joint development project between NVIDIA and SK Hynix for next-generation memory emerged. As a result, #SKHynix has narrowed its losses and is trading at 2,001,000 won, down 69,000 won (3.33%). #SK Telecom (+4.42%), which saw its launch of Korea’s first artificial intelligence (AI) factory highlighted, is showing strength.
Meanwhile, the overall weakness among top-market-cap stocks continues. #Samsung Electronics is down 21,500 won (6.53%) to 307,500 won, while #Samsung Electronics Preferred (-5.21%), #SK Square (-8.43%), #Hyundai Motor (-7.14%), #Samsung Life Insurance (-8.24%), #SamsungC&T (-8.79%), #LGEnergySolution (-4.59%), and #HDHyundaiHeavyIndustries (-4.97%) are all down.
On the KOSDAQ, #Ecopro BM (-7.61%), #Alteogen (-9.92%), #Ecopro (-8.95%), #Rainbow Robotics (-5.84%), #Juseong Engineering (-9.43%), #Kolon TissueGene (-8.27%), #SamchundangPharmaceuticals (-15.24%), #RinoIndustries (-4.78%), and #HLB (-3.75%) are all down.
Meanwhile, earlier today at 9:03 a.m., the KOSPI plunged 8.40% from the previous day’s closing price, triggering the ninth “Level 1 circuit breaker” in history. A Level 1 circuit breaker suspends trading of all stocks listed on the KOSPI for 20 minutes when a decline of 8% or more from the previous trading day’s closing price persists for more than one minute. At the same time, a sell-side circuit breaker was triggered on the KOSDAQ, suspending the effectiveness of sell orders in program trading for five minutes.