On July 28, iShares MSCI South Korea ETF declined 5.28% overnight, trading at $152.87/share, with turnover of $132 million.

On the news front, deteriorating investor sentiment toward the AI boom triggered a broad selloff in Korean semiconductor heavyweights, dragging down the broader market. The KOSPI index plunged as much as 7.6% to its lowest level since April, with SK Hynix crashing 11% and Samsung Electronics falling over 9%.

Investors are increasingly questioning the sustainability of AI infrastructure spending velocity, while concerns mount over excessively concentrated market positioning and rising corporate debt levels. Compounding the selloff, Korean retail investors had aggressively leveraged chip stock exposure through CFDs requiring only 40% margin for full market exposure. With SK Hynix CFD positions surging nearly 2,500% and Samsung positions rising fivefold, the price decline triggered margin calls and forced liquidations, intensifying selling pressure. Analysts noted the selloff appears driven more by a sharp deterioration in market sentiment rather than any direct change in fundamentals.

The fund generally invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of its underlying index, designed to measure the performance of the large- and mid-capitalization segments of the Korean equity market.

(The above content is based on publicly available market information, generated by a program or algorithm, and is intended solely as a stock movement alert. It does not constitute investment advice or a basis for trading decisions.)