[Edaily Reporter Kim Hyung-il ] SK hynix(000660)plummeted by more than 10%, shaking up the domestic stock market. Amid the fallout from a correction in U.S. semiconductor stocks, combined with massive selling by foreign investors, the KOSPI fell more than 5% at one point during the session, triggering a sell-side “side car” (a temporary suspension of sell orders in program trading). However, the securities industry viewed this sharp decline not as the end of the bull market but as a process of correcting excessive concentration, and predicted that the semiconductor earnings-driven rally would gain momentum starting in August.

According to MP Doctor on the 6th, the KOSPI closed at 6,296.38, down 301.88 points (4.58%) from the previous trading day. At one point during the session, it fell as low as 6,238.32, marking a decline of 359.94 points (5.46%). The KOSDAQ closed at 801.67, up 2.08 points (0.26%), as stocks reflecting expectations of improved earnings performed strongly.

Semiconductor stocks were at the center of the day’s sharp market decline. SK hynix plummeted 10.37%, while SamsungElectronics(005930)(-6.3%), SamsungElectroMechanics(009150)(-9.37%), and SKSQUARE(402340)(-13.32%) also fell sharply. Before the market opened, an incident occurred on the Nextrade (NXT) pre-market platform where SK hynix hit its daily price limit down with only a small volume of trades, further dampening investor sentiment. Subsequently, selling pressure intensified during regular trading hours, causing losses to widen across the semiconductor sector.

Overnight on U.S. markets, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high, tech stocks saw profit-taking. Following a decline in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX), U.S. NAND flash memory manufacturer SanDisk plummeted in after-hours trading after presenting guidance that fell short of market expectations despite strong earnings, which dampened domestic semiconductor investor sentiment. As SamsungElectronics and SK hynix—which together account for approximately 44% of the KOSPI’s market capitalization—fell in tandem, the entire KOSPI index dropped sharply.

As the decline accelerated, the sell-side sidecar was triggered at 10:18 a.m. The Korea Exchange explained that the trigger conditions were met because the price of futures based on the KOSPI 200 had fallen more than 5% below the reference price for over one minute. At that time, the Mini KOSPI 200 futures were down 5.04% from the reference price, and the effectiveness of sell orders in program trading was suspended for five minutes. Following the activation of a buy-side car on the KOSPI the previous day, the sell-side car was triggered just one day later, highlighting the high volatility of the domestic stock market.

By investor type, foreign investors led the index decline with net sales of 3.3271 trillion won in the KOSPI market. Retail investors absorbed the selling pressure with net purchases of 3.3390 trillion won. However, the domestic stock market as a whole did not collapse. On the KOSPI, the number of rising stocks (490) outnumbered the number of falling stocks (381). APR(278470)posted strong results, achieving record earnings for the second quarter of this year as well. Alteogen Inc.(196170), a leading KOSDAQ stock, led the rally on expectations of a technology transfer agreement.

The securities industry interpreted this correction not as a collapse of the bull market but as a process of resolving excessive concentration. Kim Dong-won, Head of Research at KB Securities, stated, “We believe the liquidation of leveraged positions and supply-demand shocks that caused the sharp decline in the semiconductor sector in July have largely subsided,” adding, “Starting in August, the semiconductor earnings rally will gain full momentum.” He continued, “Given that supply shortages for memory and AI chips are expected to persist for at least the next three years, now is the time to focus on the semiconductor sector, which is showing clear earnings improvement.”