On the 24th, the KOSPI rebounded sharply after the previous day's plunge and recovered the 8,400-point level. As an unprecedentedly volatile session unfolded, with intraday swings between gains and losses, the VKOSPI, known as the "Korea-style fear index," also surged to a record high.
The KOSPI closed at 8,471.02, up 267.18 points (3.26%) from the previous session. Starting at 8,356.79, up 152.95 points (1.86%), the KOSPI expanded its gain to around 3% early, then fell nearly 1.5% in the afternoon, threatening the 8,000 level. After repeated switches between gains and losses, the uptrend strengthened from 2 p.m., and the market ended around 8,470.
The market's extreme fear and volatility showed up squarely in the indicators. According to the Korea Exchange (KRX), the KOSPI 200 volatility index (VKOSPI) soared intraday to as high as 95.13, up 6.11 points (6.83%) from the prior session, marking an all-time high.
The VKOSPI is an index quantifying expected future market volatility; levels above roughly the 70–80 range are generally seen as panic conditions where fear outweighs hopes for policy support. The spillover from the KOSPI's 9.99% plunge the previous day, a record decline, appears to have intensified during the intraday shift lower.
By investor type, despite foreign selling pressure, combined buying by individuals and institutions helped defend against the volatility. In the main board, individuals and institutions were net buyers of 2.9 trillion won and 2.1 trillion won, respectively, while foreigners were net sellers of 5.1 trillion won.
Large-cap stocks by market cap rose across the board. A rebound in major semiconductor blue chips that had plunged the previous day led the index higher again. Samsung Electronics closed at 340,500 won, up 30,500 won (9.94%) from the previous session, and SK hynix also finished at 2,580,000 won, up 25,000 won (0.98%). Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung C&T, Samsung Biologics, Doosan Enerbility, and SK were among other major large caps that ended higher.
The KOSDAQ also closed up 2% from the previous session after experiencing large afternoon volatility similar to the KOSPI. The KOSDAQ ended at 909.31, up 17.79 points (2%) from the previous session.
The KOSDAQ also swung as it repeatedly flipped between intraday losses and gains, but recovered to the 910 level as institutions strengthened buying. In the KOSDAQ market, institutions were net buyers of 340 billion won, offsetting individuals' net selling of 360 billion won.
U.S. stocks, which closed earlier, fell across all three major indexes as the plunge in Asian semiconductor stocks was reflected belatedly. The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 fell 1.4%, while the Nasdaq and Dow slipped 2.2% and 0.1%, respectively.
In particular, the sharp declines in major semiconductor corporations such as Micron (-13.2%) and SanDisk (-13.7%), along with caution ahead of Micron's earnings and the release of the U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, are seen as factors that amplified intraday volatility in the domestic market.
Domestic market analysts said the rebound reflected technical buying after the previous day's excessive plunge, while noting that a short-term breather could continue.
Han Ji-young, a Kiwoom Securities researcher, said, "At present, semiconductor stocks still have valid medium-term growth narratives, such as the sustainability of artificial intelligence (AI) investment and expectations for memory price increases, but in the short term they face pressure from elevated share-price levels," adding, "With the view spreading that the domestic market priced in concerns about a sharp decline in U.S. semiconductor stocks the previous day, technical buying is flowing in and will recover the losses from the previous day's plunge."