South Korea's Kospi crashes 8.95% in a 'Black Monday'; Seoul trading halted

South Korea's Kospi closed down 8.95% at 6,806.93 on Monday, July 13, 2026, a plunge local media dubbed a "Black Monday." After the index's loss widened past 8% at 1:28 p.m. local time, the Korea Exchange triggered a circuit breaker that halted trading for 20 minutes, the seventh such halt on the Kospi this year.

Chipmakers led the rout. SK Hynix tumbled 15.37% to about 1.85 million won, its biggest one-day drop on record, surpassing the 14.93% fall during the 2008 financial crisis. Samsung Electronics fell 10.70% to close at 254,500 won.

Analysts cited three drivers: fears that the semiconductor upcycle has peaked, profit-taking after SK Hynix's U.S. ADR listing on July 10, and the escalating U.S. and Iran conflict in West Asia, which lifted oil and stoked global risk-off sentiment. The chip selloff spread to Wall Street, where Nvidia, Broadcom and Micron each fell roughly 3% to 4%.