Seoul stocks, won hammered by massive foreign selling
Seoul stocks plunged Friday as a prolonged foreign sell-off collided with a sharp downturn in global semiconductor shares, sending the benchmark KOSPI down more than 5 percent to below the 8,200 level. The sustained foreign investor exodus also continued to weigh on the Korean won. In Seoul’s onshore foreign exchange market, the won closed at 1,539.1 per dollar, down 9.4 won from the previous session. During intraday trading, it briefly approached the 1,550 level, its weakest since March 2009, during the global financial crisis. The won has now traded above the 1,500 per dollar threshold for 14 consecutive sessions. KOSPI opened at 8,323.20, down 3.66 percent from the previous session, according to the Korea Exchange. Heavy selling pressure persisted throughout the day, prompting the year’s 10th sidecar shortly after the opening bell — a market safeguard that temporarily suspends program trading during periods of extreme volatility. The index ultimately closed at 8,160.59, down 5.54 percent. Foreign and institutional investors drove the decline, selling a net 3.52 trillion won and
