South Korea's benchmark Kospi stock index fell more than 8 percent on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, as mounting doubts over massive investments in artificial intelligence triggered a broad sell-off across Asian financial markets.
By midday in Seoul, the Kospi plunged 8.2 percent to 5,531.56, reaching its lowest level since early April after recently topping the 9,000 mark, according to the Associated Press.
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Tech Shares Lead Decline
The sharp downturn was primarily led by chipmaker SK Hynix, whose shares sank 12.6 percent after its quarterly operating profit missed analysts' expectations despite surging sixfold to a record 60.5 trillion won ($41.2 billion).
Tech giant Samsung Electronics also saw its shares decline by 8 percent.
Equities across Asia mostly tracked the losses in Seoul.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.8 percent to 61,038.63, while Taiwan's Taiex fell 3.6 percent and the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.5 percent to 3,793.11.
Japanese equities showed mixed reactions following a major earthquake in the southern Kyushu region.
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Shares in Nippon Paper, which operates a severely damaged mill in the disaster area, dropped 1 percent.
Bucking the regional trend, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.7 percent to 25,738.42, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1 percent to 9,036.90.
Energy markets saw a rebound, with Brent crude rising 4.2 percent to $87.58 a barrel and benchmark U.
S. crude advancing 4.2 percent to $82.58 a barrel.
In currency markets, the U. S.
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dollar dipped to 163.57 Japanese yen from 163.81 yen, while the euro rose slightly to $1.1399 from $1.1391.
