KOSPI Drops Below 1,600 Points
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 4.86 percent to close at 1,591.20 points on March 18. That day alone, the aggregate value of the stock market dropped 54,415 billion won to 1,071.78 trillion won. The closing value, the lowest since May 26, 2010, was below 1,600 points for the first time since that day.
Likewise, the Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) index plummeted by 5.75 percent to close at 485.14 points, the lowest since Dec. 19, 2013. The aggregate value of the market dropped from 188.46 trillion won to 177.74 trillion won.
On March 18, the aggregate value of the two markets fell 65,137 billion won. However, the KOSPI 200 volatility index fell 2.62 percent to 62.80.
Foreign investors’ net selling amounted to 589.5 billion won in the KOSPI market. Their net selling in the market continued for 10 trading days. Their net selling volume during the period is 8,029.3 billion won. In addition, the volume during the period of Feb. 24 to March 18 amounts to 12,433 billion won. In that period, their net selling continued with the only exception of March 4.
The value of the U.S. dollar increased under the circumstances. On March 18, the won-dollar exchange rate rose 2.2 won to 1,245.7 won per U.S. dollar, the highest since June 11, 2010.