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By Dalal Street Investment Journal (DSIJ)
South Korea's KOSPI saw a sharp fall on Tuesday, leading to a 20-minute trading pause. Investors sold AI-related stocks after a strong rally, raising concerns that valuations had become too high. Heavy losses in Samsung and SK Hynix added to the market's decline.
South Korean index ‘KOSPI’ saw heavy selling pressure on Tuesday as investors rushed to book profits after a strong rally in AI-related stocks. These AI stocks had pushed the country's benchmark index to record highs.
The benchmark KOSPI index fell by over 8% to hit the first lower circuit on Tuesday.
This resulted in a market-wide circuit breaker and forcing the Korea Exchange to halt trading for 20 minutes. The 20-minute market-wide trading halt started at 2:33 p.m. and lasted until 2:53 p.m. (Korean Standard Time) on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.
As the trading started back from 2:54 p.m KST, the benchmark Kospi index hit a new lower circuit of 10% on June 23.
This was one of the sharpest falls seen since March 04, 2026. The selloff came when KOSPI had surpassed the 9,000 mark for the first time on June 18, 2026.
However, the major concern for the market was regarding the valuation of the AI-based firms. Investors believed that the valuation of AI-related stocks had stretched, leading to profit bookings on Tuesday.
The index, which had closed around 9,114 points on Monday, slipped to nearly 8,203 during Tuesday's trading session. This historic drop wiped out approximately 250 trillion to 260 trillion Korean won in market capitalisation.
Despite the fall, the past returns on the index stand out pretty well. In the last 30 days, the index has delivered a return of 6.81%. Additionally, in the last one year, the returns stand at over 175%.
One notable factor of the KOSPI index in 2026 was that it took over India as the world’s sixth-largest stock market.
The biggest drag came from semiconductor heavyweights such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
SK Hynix's share price fell more than 12%. SK Hynix’s losses also came after local media reported that the company plans to cut its production of high-bandwidth memory in favour of higher-margin DRAM products. Such a move stands to narrow the company’s dominance in HBM, especially when rival companies like Samsung and Micron are here to grab the market share.
Samsung's share price also fell by over 12%.
Foreign institutional investors also sold more than 2 trillion won or approximately $1.3 billion from the KOSPI market. However, domestic investors stepped in to buy the dip.
Investor sentiment was also negative due to weakness in the global technology stocks. Recent declines in technology companies in the US have raised concerns that AI-linked stocks could face a broader correction after their sharp rally over the past one year.
Samsung and SK Hynix together make up a very large share of the KOSPI index. According to reports, their combined index stands at over 50% as of June 1, 2026.
SK Hynix is one of the world’s leading memory-chip makers. They mainly focus on DRAM and NAND flash semiconductors. The stock had rallied for eight consecutive trading sessions before witnessing today’s drop.
Samsung Electronics is also a major beneficiary of the growing demand for AI-related chips and memory products.
Given their large weightage in the Kospi, sharp declines in these two stocks often have a significant impact.
Source: Dalal Street Investment Journal, Moneycontrol
SEBI Registered Research Analyst (INH000006396).
Founded in 1986, Dalal Street Investment Journal (DSIJ) brings decades of experience in India’s equity markets. DSIJ's research combines fundamental analysis with price action, guided by disciplined risk management and capital preservation. They follow a structured, data-driven approach designed to help investors and traders make informed decisions beyond short-term market noise.
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