Just touched 8000 points and plunged! South Korea's KOSPI index plummeted by more than 7%, with foreign capital frantically selling and exiting.

Due to continuous selling by global funds, the benchmark index of the South Korean stock market experienced a sharp decline. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) once touched the 8000 mark in early trading on Friday, before reversing course to drop by over 7%. Overseas investors continued to sell off, with technology stocks being hit the hardest. The KOSPI technology sector was most affected by the selling from foreign investors, with a net outflow of funds exceeding $25 billion. So far this year, the South Korean Kospi index has outperformed global capital markets with an 80% year-to-date increase. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are the main drivers behind this index increase, but on Friday, both companies saw their stock prices drop by at least 5%. Nevertheless, their stock prices have still more than doubled since the beginning of the year. The share price of SK Hynix's affiliate company SK Square also dropped by over 5%, dragging down the index. Technical indicators show that the Korea Composite Stock Price Index is currently in an overbought state. On Friday, the Korean exchange suspended program trading for the KOSPI index when the stock index futures price fell by more than 5%, triggering a circuit breaker mechanism, causing a 5-minute pause in program trading. Christian Heck, portfolio manager at First Eagle Investments, stated that although the KOSPI index is still relatively cheaper compared to the U.S. stock benchmark index based on earnings, its valuation is already high compared to historical levels in South Korea. He also emphasized that the KOSPI index has become heavily dependent on two large storage semiconductor companies, which make up half of its weight. It has become increasingly common for the South Korean stock market to experience daily volatility of 5% or even higher. As individual investors increase margin trading and the inflow of funds from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) rises, the intraday volatility has also intensified. Huh Jae-Hwan, a strategist at Eugene Investment & Securities, stated: "The South Korean KOSPI index has risen by around 60% in the past month and a half, which has raised concerns about this upward trend. Some pullback is to be expected." At the time of writing, the South Korean KOSPI index was down by 7.59%, at 7375.97 points.