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South Korea’s KOSPI tumbles as much as 6.1% as chip stocks slide

South Korea’s KOSPI tumbles as much as 6.1% as chip stocks slide

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell sharply on July 24 as the KOSPI dropped more than 5%, while retail investors bought about KRW 450 billion of single-stock leveraged ETFs tied to the two chipmakers.

Fact Check
The Yahoo/GuruFocus article directly confirms the headline claim: the Kospi fell as much as 6.1% on July 24, 2026, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each dropping over 7%. The Reuters article confirms the existence and popularity of single-stock leveraged ETFs tied to Samsung and SK Hynix among retail investors, corroborating the ETF-buying context. The precise KRW 450 billion retail figure could not be independently verified in a primary source, so slight uncertainty remains on that detail, but the core factual claims are strongly supported.
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Summary

South Korean equities came under heavy pressure on July 24 after overnight losses in U.S. chipmakers spilled into Asia, sending the KOSPI down as much as 6.1%. Samsung Electronics fell more than 7% and SK Hynix dropped more than 8%, triggering a brief program-trading halt on the Korea Exchange. During the selloff, South Korean retail investors turned net buyers of 14 single-stock leveraged ETFs, purchasing about KRW 450 billion after three sessions of net selling totaling KRW 547.17138 billion from July 21 to 23. Buying was concentrated in seven Samsung Electronics products worth KRW 103.8959 billion and seven SK Hynix products worth KRW 350.02688 billion, even as related leveraged ETFs fell 15% to 16%. Brokers also cited local fund selling ahead of the weekend amid Middle East tensions and some hedge-fund rotation into China’s ChangXin Technology before its July 27 listing. The move drew scrutiny of Morgan Stanley analyst Shawn Kim’s July 21 bearish memory-chip report, though analysts differed on whether it directly caused the decline, and highlighted Morgan Stanley’s exclusion from SK Hynix’s roughly $26.5 billion ADR listing syndicate.

Terms & Concepts
  • single-stock leveraged ETFs: Leveraged exchange-traded funds linked to the shares of a single company.
  • program trading: Basket buy-and-sell orders executed automatically.
  • ADR listing syndicate: A group of banks selected to help arrange and distribute an American depositary receipt offering.