KOSPI opened on the 2nd down 4.46%. As the "AI bubble theory" and semiconductor sell-off shock that slammed U.S. stocks the previous day spilled over intact, the domestic market broke below the 8,000 level at the open.
KOSPI started at 7,933.10, down 370.31 points (4.46%) from the previous transaction day. The leading semiconductor bellwethers that had driven the market crumbled without resistance, and top market-cap stocks are plunging in unison under a wave of forced selling. As fear grips the market and sell orders pour in, a sell-sidecar was triggered seven minutes after the open.
In the main board, foreigners are net selling nearly 900 billion won early in the session. Individuals are defending with net buying of nearly 800 billion won, but they are not preventing the index from falling.
The KOSDAQ index also opened at 904.53, down 24.82 points (2.67%) from the previous transaction day. While foreigners are net sellers, individuals and institutions are net buyers.
All three major New York stock indexes fell the previous day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 52,305.24, down 13.96 points (-0.03%) from the prior session. The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 fell 16.13 points (-0.22%) to 7,483.23, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ended at 26,040.03, down 173.69 points (-0.66%).
U.S. stocks extended losses led by semiconductors as concerns spread over a slowdown in AI infrastructure investment.
Bloomberg reported that day that Meta is pursuing a cloud business to sell surplus computing resources from its in-house AI data centers to external corporations. As Meta is a key company carrying out large-scale investments to build AI data centers, the market appears increasingly uneasy that this move could lead to a moderation in the pace of AI infrastructure investment.
Micron Technology plunged 10.57%, and SanDisk fell 10.62%. AMD (-6.89%) and Intel (-9.03%) also tumbled, and Nvidia, the leading artificial intelligence (AI) chip stock, fell 1.25%.
Meta, by contrast, jumped 8.80%, and Microsoft and Apple rose 2.84% and 2.66%, respectively.
News that Michael Burry, the investor who predicted the U.S. subprime mortgage financial crisis and the real-life model for the film "The Big Short," took a short position on semiconductor stocks also appears to have weighed on U.S. and domestic semiconductor shares.
On June 30 (local time), according to CNBC and other foreign media, Michael Burry cited large-scale investment plans by Korean memory makers such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, saying, "The direct driver of today's stock price gains is the large-scale expenditure announced in Korea," but added, "I view this as the 'beginning of the end,' and it is now only a matter of time before the bubble bursts."