South Korean financial authorities convened an emergency market meeting on the evening of July 29 after the benchmark KOSPI index erased 864.5 trillion won in market value across two consecutive trading sessions.
The benchmark index fell 5.98 percent to close at 5,663.24 on Wednesday.
>>> Emergency Services Resuscitate Swimmer at Arnhem Recreational Lake
The drop marked the second straight day that a market-wide circuit breaker was triggered to temporarily halt trading across both national exchanges.
Officials Discuss Market Volatility
Top officials led the evening session at 6 p. m.
local time, according to Bloomberg.
The gathering included Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol, Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song, Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eog-weon, and Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Chan-jin.
Lawmakers interrogated senior officials earlier on July 29 regarding single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds introduced in May.
Lawmakers asserted that the products exacerbated market volatility by concentrating speculative trades into a narrow set of major blue-chip stocks.
>>> Idi Amin's Grandson Disqualified for Headbutt at Commonwealth Games
Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol acknowledged during a parliamentary hearing that the leveraged ETF products warranted deeper analysis prior to their release.
"We've already put in place a package of measures, but if it's needed we'll introduce additional steps to help normalise the market," said Koo Yun-cheol.
The selloff has erased 32.54 percent, or 2,731.41 points, from the KOSPI over the past month.
The market lost 600.33 trillion won on July 28 and another 264.20 trillion won on July 29, marking the first consecutive circuit-breaker halts in the history of the Korea Exchange.
The sharp declines coincided with chipmaker SK Hynix missing quarterly earnings estimates.
Despite posting a 257 percent year-over-year revenue increase, its second-quarter revenue of 79.3 trillion won and operating profit of 60.54 trillion won fell short of market forecasts.
>>> Severe Drought Lowers Rhine River Water Levels in Germany
Shares of SK Hynix dropped 9.61 percent to 1,401,000 won, while Samsung Electronics fell 5.23 percent to 208,500 won.
