Market sentiment was weighed down by doubts over the durability of the memory-chip boom and competition from China's CXMT, which is expanding server memory capacity. Liquidity tightened as Samsung and SK Hynix wound down share buybacks totaling $39 billion. The rout spilled into regional markets, with Japan's Nikkei sliding 2%, Nasdaq 100 futures falling 0.5%, and Asian stocks overall declining 0.9%.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
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Kospi Plunges 6% and Nears Market Circuit Breaker on Tech Rout
Global Markets8 days ago
The Korea Exchange is on the verge of halting all trading as the benchmark index dropped within 0.5% of its circuit breaker threshold on Tuesday. The KOSPI extended its slide to 6% for the session, wiping $150 billion in market value and adding to a decline of more than 12% over the past five trading days. Semiconductor giants Samsung and SK Hynix both fell over 5%, prompting the exchange to activate its sidecar mechanism to pause program selling.
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