U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) decided on a "hawkish (tightening) hold," and U.S. stocks ended lower. The rate hold eased immediate concerns, but long-term uncertainty grew. Affected by this, the KOSPI also opened down 1% at 5,590 on the 30th.

On the afternoon of the 29th, after unprecedented back-to-back circuit breakers are triggered, the KOSPI closing price is displayed on the dealing room board at Hana Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul. /Courtesy of Park Sung-won

As of 9:05 a.m. that day, the KOSPI index was trading at 5,591.6, down 71.64 (1.27%) from the previous session. The index opened higher but quickly turned lower as retail investors net sold 361.3 billion won. Foreign investors and institutions were net buying 332.6 billion won and 23.6 billion won, respectively.

Investor sentiment froze on the back of the decline in New York stocks the previous night. The Fed held the benchmark rate at 3.5%–3.75%, but the market raised concerns that it might be "responding late to inflation." Yields on U.S. Government Bonds spiked, weighing on the market.

The U.S. 30-year Government Bonds yield jumped 10.5 bp (1 bp = 0.01 percentage point) in a day to 5.201%. Intraday, it rose to as high as 5.244%, hitting the highest level since 2007, just before the global financial crisis. However, the 2-year yield, which is sensitive to monetary policy, fell 4 bp to 4.236% in transaction.

Semiconductor stocks were broadly weak. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunged 5.3%, marking a fifth straight decline. Nvidia (3.55%) and Micron (9.94%) were also weak.

Microsoft posted high growth in Azure and gained 2% in the after-market, but Meta weakened in after-hours as its earnings per share (EPS) outlook fell short of market expectations.

SK hynix(000660) fell 4% and is trading at 1.3 million won, while KB Financial Group and LG Energy Solution are up 1%.

Samsung Electronics(005930) is slightly lower after reporting results that beat market expectations. Samsung Electronics said its consolidated operating profit for the second quarter of this year was 89.4924 trillion won. That was up 1,813.8% from a year earlier. It beat market expectations by 5%.

The KOSDAQ index is trading at 660.59, down 2.09 (0.32%). While retail investors are net selling 50.7 billion won, foreign investors and institutions are net buying 38.7 billion won and 11.6 billion won, respectively. As investor sentiment freezes, most top market-cap stocks are weak.

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