Following "Black Tuesday," "Black Wednesday" has become a reality. Despite SK Hynix announcing record earnings, it was not enough to revive investor sentiment. A sharp decline in U.S. semiconductor stocks, coupled with disappointing earnings expectations, led to a widespread collapse of domestic semiconductor shares, with both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices dropping more than 10% during trading. For the first time in history, circuit breakers were triggered on both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets for two consecutive days.
According to the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI closed at 5,663.24, down 360.42 points (5.98%) from the previous trading day. The index opened at 6,089.11, up 65.45 points (1.09%), but quickly reversed its gains and fell sharply. The KOSDAQ also started at 713.71, up 7.86 points (1.11%), but soon turned downward, closing at 662.68.
The ongoing decline triggered the 15th first-stage circuit breaker in the KOSPI market and the 14th in the KOSDAQ market this year. This marked the first instance of simultaneous circuit breakers being activated on both markets for two consecutive days.
Earlier that day, SK Hynix reported its second-quarter consolidated revenue at 79.3187 trillion won and operating profit at 60.5426 trillion won. Despite these record figures, the results fell slightly short of market expectations, failing to revive frozen investor sentiment. Consequently, SK Hynix's stock plummeted by 9.61%, while Samsung Electronics also saw a 5.23% decline, as selling pressure spread across major semiconductor stocks.
The simultaneous weakness in U.S. semiconductor stocks further dampened investor sentiment. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index closed down 0.22%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell by 4.49%, marking its fourth consecutive day of decline. Major semiconductor stocks, including Micron (-8.85%), AMD (-8.15%), Intel (-5.86%), Qualcomm (-4.21%), and Western Digital (-6.91%), all experienced significant drops.
Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, stated, "SK Hynix's second-quarter results fell short of market expectations, and the weakened outlook for shareholder returns, along with renewed uncertainties in U.S.-Iran negotiations, have dampened investor sentiment. The panic selling that spread across the market was a result of the broken expectations for a rebound following the previous day's sharp decline."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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