South Korea's Korea Exchange and securities brokerages earned a combined 117.26 billion won in roughly two months after single-stock leveraged and inverse ETFs tied to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix began trading on May 27, even as regulators warned the products were driving excessive turnover and steep retail losses. After tighter rules took effect from July 31 and August 19, trading in the products fell sharply while new margin loan activity in the underlying chip stocks increased, suggesting some speculative demand may have shifted into spot-market borrowing. Separately, SK Hynix labor and management reached a tentative agreement on this year's wage and collective bargaining after talks focused on stock-based performance bonuses and possible wage adjustments if the company posts losses.