South Korea’s benchmark briefly showed a 20.17% indicative drop in the call auction, opened higher at 5,681.77, neared 6,000 intraday, then reversed to close at 5,593.56 as volatility persisted.
South Korea’s Kospi experienced extreme volatility on July 30 after a distorted pre-open indicative reading briefly showed a 20.17% drop during the call auction. The benchmark then opened 0.33% higher at 5,681.77, rebounded above 5,800 and at one point briefly attempted to reclaim 6,000, before reversing and closing down 69.68 points, or 1.23%, at 5,593.56. The Kosdaq closed at 644.78, down 2.70%. Analysts said the extreme pre-open swing reflected order imbalances in the call auction after the previous session’s 5.98% fall and two straight circuit-breaker sessions, rather than the actual opening level of the cash market. They described the early rebound as a technical bounce from oversold conditions after the Kospi’s July slump of more than 30%, while newer reporting said the index is down 17% over the past three trading days. Foreign and institutional investors returned as net buyers during the rebound attempt, with foreigners buying more than 570 billion won and institutions more than 1.3 trillion won, while retail investors sold more than 1.9 trillion won. Markets remained under pressure from the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep rates unchanged for a fifth straight meeting, weakness in U.S. semiconductor stocks, mixed reactions to Microsoft and Meta results, concerns about China’s semiconductor competitiveness, higher oil prices tied to U.S.-Iran tensions, and risks of forced selling linked to margin debt of 33.19 trillion won as of July 28.