South Korean and Japanese stock markets fall amid heavy tech sell-off

CoinFeed, June 23 – According to Jinshi reports, South Korean and Japanese stock markets saw heavy selling after recently hitting multiple record highs, driven by a sharp shift in global AI market sentiment and macroeconomic events. In South Korea, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the two memory chip makers that account for about half of the KOSPI index's market cap, fell 7.4% and 10.1% intraday respectively, with the KOSPI index dropping over 9% intraday, triggering a 20-minute trading halt for the fourth time this year. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell over 3.0% intraday, led by SoftBank Group and chipmaker Kioxia, which dropped 10% and 14% respectively. Both the KOSPI and Nikkei 225 had recently hit multiple record highs, mainly benefiting from AI optimism, progress in US-Iran peace talks, and expectations of monetary tightening by the Bank of Japan.