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Kospi craters below 2,300 mark as U.S. tariffs take effect

Published: 09 Apr. 2025, 14:22 Updated: 09 Apr. 2025, 20:01

The Kospi at around 2 p.m. on April 9 [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Korea’s benchmark Kospi fell below the 2,300 mark during intraday trading Wednesday for the first time in more than 17 months, as investor sentiment weakened ahead of new reciprocal tariffs imposed by the United States.

The Kospi breached the threshold from around 1 p.m., standing at 2,296 as of 2:12 p.m.

The index opened at 2,329.99 on Wednesday morning, down 0.18 percent from the previous close, and hovered near the 2,320 level before losses deepened in the afternoon.

The decline coincided with the official enforcement of U.S. reciprocal tariffs, which took effect at 1 p.m. in Korea.

This marks the first time since Nov. 1, 2023 — when the index hit 2,288.64 — that the main bourse has dipped below 2,300 during trading hours.

Institutional investors and foreigners were net sellers, offloading 139.5 billion won ($93 million) and 736.7 billion won worth of shares, respectively.

Individual investors, however, were net buyers, purchasing 785.4 billion won in equities.

The tech-heavy Kosdaq also saw a sharp drop, opening at 653.84, down 0.7 percent compared to the previous trading day, and stood at 640.24 at around 2 p.m.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]