The Bank of Korea warns that single-leverage ETFs for SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics may amplify stock market risks.
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Analysis: South Korean stocks have plummeted more than 20% from their peak and are poised to enter a technical bear market.
PANews reported on July 8th that, according to Jinshi, the South Korean stock market continued its decline, with the KOSPI index falling by more than 6% intraday, accumulating a drop of over 20% since its June peak, poised to enter a technical bear market. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell by approximately 7% and 5% respectively, as investors reassess the prospects for AI demand. South Korea has been the world's best-performing stock market this year, but its over-reliance on two chipmakers makes it particularly vulnerable to shifts in industry sentiment. Leveraged ETFs amplified two-way volatility, further exacerbating market fluctuations. Despite Samsung Electronics' quarterly profit surging 19-fold this week, chip stocks continued their decline, highlighting that traders are demanding more evidence to justify the exorbitant investments across the entire supply chain. Fidelity International portfolio manager Ian Samson stated, "The current increased volatility stems largely from fundamental uncertainty."
South Korea's KOSPI index turned positive, with SK Hynix rising over 2%.
According to BlockBeats, on July 8th, based on Bitget market data, the South Korean KOSPI index turned positive, after initially falling nearly 4%. SK Hynix rose over 2%, while Samsung Electronics narrowed its losses to 1%. According to BIT (bit.com) market data, US storage concept stocks opened lower but rallied in overnight trading, with SanDisk rising over 3%, and Micron Technology and Western Digital rising over 1%.
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The Bank of Korea has released a regulatory proposal suggesting that personal stablecoin transactions exceeding $10,000 should be limited to transfers from verified wallets.
According to Mars Finance, the legal team of the Bank of Korea has published a research paper titled "Regulatory Scheme for Foreign Remittance Transactions Targeting Stablecoins," proposing regulatory recommendations for large-scale stablecoin transactions. The paper, referencing current South Korean foreign exchange control regulations, proposes constraints on stablecoin transfers exceeding $10,000 between individuals, requiring such transactions to be conducted only between officially certified wallets, along with a pre-reporting mechanism. The institution acknowledges that there are technical obstacles to fully controlling unregistered wallets, but due to anti-money laundering compliance requirements, it is necessary to strengthen restrictions on large-scale cross-border stablecoin fund flows. South Korean regulators have previously repeatedly stated the need to improve the monitoring system for cross-border crypto asset transactions using non-custodial wallets; this paper further refines and implements the regulatory approach.
South Korean stocks plunge 20%, nearing a bear market; the AI boom faces the awkward situation of "the more disastrous the earnings, the steeper the decline."
According to BlockBeats, on Wednesday afternoon, July 8th, South Korean stocks extended their losses as investors reassessed the outlook for AI demand. The KOSPI index fell by more than 6% at one point, breaking below 7200 points, and has cumulatively fallen by more than 20% from its all-time high last month, poised to enter technical bear market territory. Memory chip maker SK Hynix fell by as much as 5%, and Samsung Electronics fell by 6.9%. The Korea Exchange initiated a temporary trading halt on the KOSPI index, suspending algorithmic trading. South Korean stocks were among the strongest performing markets globally this year, but their performance is highly dependent on SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, amplifying volatility when sector sentiment weakens. Even with Samsung Electronics announcing a 19-fold surge in quarterly profits earlier this week, chip stocks continued to be under pressure. Jordan Klein, a TMT sector expert at Mizuho Securities, stated that investors overreacted to Samsung's preliminary second-quarter results. He believes this sell-off in semiconductor stocks is more a sign of waning momentum than a deterioration in fundamentals. Klein stated that excluding one-off bonus expenses, Samsung's operating profit actually significantly exceeded expectations, with its storage business implied operating margin potentially exceeding 80%. He indicated that Samsung's single-quarter operating profit has already surpassed the total of the past three years, and reacting to Samsung's stock price based solely on preliminary results is "extremely short-sighted." Meanwhile, an AI trading rotation occurred in Asian markets. Hong Kong-listed Chinese stocks rose, with the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rising as much as 3.4%, the Hang Seng Tech Index rising over 5% intraday, Alibaba rising over 8%, and Tencent rising over 3%. Market analysts believe that funds are flowing from crowded trades focused on AI infrastructure to markets with lower valuations and more value-oriented characteristics. Reuters' report on DeepSeek's self-developed chip and The Information's report on Zhipu AI considering designing its own AI chip further fueled this rotation. (Jinshi)