South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index is down 8.5% in early trading on Friday, November 6, in-line with the steep AI and Semiconductor sell-off witnessed on Wall Street overnight. Trading was halted for 20 minutes after the index hit its first 8% circuit down right after open.
With this fall, the KOSPI has slipped below the mark of 5,000, a target set by President Lee Jae Myung, during his Presidential campaign back in 2025.
While running for office, Lee campaigned that electing him as President would usher in the “KOSPI 5,000” era, and remove the perennial “Korea Discount.” The KOSPI had then crossed the 5,000 mark for the first time since January 2026.
Fears over the democrat sweep in the US across the Congressional houses will result in a slowdown of the AI data center buildout in the future, triggered a steep sell-off on Wall Street overnight, with the Nasdaq 100 plunging 6%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 12%.
Shares of Samsung Electronics are down 9%, while those of SK Hynix are down 11.5% on Friday on the Korean indices. Both the stocks are the key triggers behind the record breaking rally that the KOSPI had witnessed during the first six months of 2026, during which, the index had even doubled on a year-to-date basis.
“In the end, we have reached the panic sell stage,” said Kim Dojoon, chief executive officer at Zian Investment Management. “Most market participants would be forced to sell in today’s market,” he added.
With today’s sell-off, the KOSPI is now down 47% from its record high of 9,385 that it had surged to in May this year.
KOSPI Crash: South Korean index slips below 5,000 target set by President Lee Jae Myung