The government said on the 8th that it held a market situation review meeting and would closely review risk factors that could cause excessive volatility in the stock market. The previous day, the KOSPI ended trading at 7,656.31, down 4.91% from the prior session as foreign selling continued. During the session, the decline widened to around 8%, triggering a circuit breaker. That day, it also began trading at 7,452.48, down 2.66%.
The meeting, presided over by Koo Yun-cheol, Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy and Minister of Economy and Finance, was attended by Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song, Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-young, and Financial Supervisory Service Senior Deputy Governor Lee Se-hoon. The government said volatility had partially expanded as the stock market adjusted due to profit-taking and rebalancing sales by foreigners and institutions following sharp gains, as well as the global AI business outlook.
Regarding the foreign exchange market, it said volatility had expanded due to continued stock selling driven by the increased value of foreigners' stock holdings, the strong U.S. dollar, and the weak yen. In response, the government decided to significantly strengthen a 24-hour monitoring system to respond to exchange rate volatility that may occur during nighttime hours. It also plans to finalize and announce the won internationalization roadmap within this month.