Circuit Breaker

• South Korea's bourse operator activated a circuit breaker for the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) on Friday, June 26. • The emergency measure was triggered after stocks crashed significantly, driven primarily by a sharp slump in tech heavyweight companies. • This action matters as it highlights extreme market volatility and the need to halt trading to prevent a total collapse of investor confidence.

• South Korea's Kospi index triggered a circuit breaker after a sharp 8% fall, leading a broader decline across Asian markets. • The sell-off was driven by investors dumping technology stocks due to growing concerns regarding the costs and sustainability of the artificial intelligence boom. • Other regional markets were impacted, with the Kosdaq slipping over 1% and Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.88%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng futures signaled a weak opening.

• South Korea’s KOSPI index plummeted 8% on Tuesday, triggering a circuit breaker that halted trading for 20 minutes. • Major technology stocks led the decline, with SK Hynix falling over 10% and Samsung Electronics dropping 7.5% intraday. • The crash was driven by a selloff in US megacap technology shares that spilled over into Asian AI-related stocks, coinciding with a 1.9% drop in Nasdaq 100 futures.

• Asian stock markets tumbled as a sharp selloff in AI and semiconductor trades hit the region, specifically hammering South Korea's KOSPI index. • The volatility was severe enough to trigger a circuit breaker in South Korea, reflecting a rapid unwinding of crowded trades that had driven performance through much of 2026. • This downturn impacts key memory-chip makers and Samsung Electronics, which had previously seen massive inflows from foreign investors due to the demand for AI servers and data centers.

• Asian markets experienced a significant downturn, led by South Korea's benchmark Kospi index, which crashed nearly 9% due to a tech selloff. • The severity of the Kospi's decline triggered a circuit breaker, resulting in a temporary halt of all trading activity. • Other regional markets also fell, with Japan's Nikkei 225 dropping 3.4% and Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures trading lower than Friday's close of 24,961.95.