Kospi Drops 16% in Two Days on SK Hynix Miss
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- Kospi Index fell as much as 6.5% on Wednesday, pushing its two-day decline past 16%, after circuit breakers were triggered for a second straight day
- SK Hynix Inc. posted disappointing earnings that worsened already-jittery sentiment around the AI buildout, cited as the catalyst for Wednesday's selloff
- The Kospi earlier slid as much as 13% in a hectic morning session before trimming losses to close down 6%
- Despair and frustration spread across the South Korean retail-investing community as the index's monthly decline reached a record 33%
- The rout marks the second consecutive day of circuit-breaker triggers, underscoring how a single chip-stock earnings miss has cascaded into a benchmark-wide selloff
Why it matters: SK Hynix's earnings miss became the flashpoint for a broader South Korean market rout, with the Kospi shedding 16% in two days and 33% for the month — a record — and hitting retail investors who had crowded into the AI chip trade. As SK Hynix is a bellwether for the global AI memory cycle, its stumble is dragging sentiment across the entire AI buildout narrative that has powered Korean equities.
