China's new chip power triggers Korean selloff, sparks 21st sidecar SEOUL, July 28 (AJP) - South Korean stocks plunged Tuesday, triggering the market's 21st sidecar of the month after a fresh rout in U.S. semiconductor shares combined with growing investor bets on China's emerging memory-chip champion to spark another wave of foreign selling. The Korea Exchange activated a sidecar — a five-minute suspension of program trading designed to cool excessive volatility — shortly after the open as benchmark indices tumbled more than 5 July 28, 2026

KOSPI rebounds as AI bets outweigh China memory threat SEOUL, July 27 (AJP) — South Korean stocks rebounded Monday after investors looked past the blockbuster debut of Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT and instead focused on fresh artificial intelligence (AI) partnerships, allowing chip shares to recover from early declines. The benchmark KOSPI closed at 6,755.75, up 0.97 percent after reversing an early decline triggered by more than 2 trillion won in foreign selling. The junior KOSDAQ outperformed, rising 2.22 percent to 764.86. July 27, 2026

Korea's AI chip ETF frenzy poised to spread to Tokyo SEOUL, July 27 (AJP) —The chip-linked leveraged ETF frenzy that turned South Korea into a proving ground for AI-fueled speculative trading is poised to spill over to Japan. U.S. asset managers are seeking to launch the first single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds tied to Japanese chipmaker, modeled after single-stock instruments on Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to ride on the AI chip fever. According to Bloomberg on Monday, U.S. firms including Kogi Strategies July 27, 2026

Record dollar deposits lift Koreans' foreign currency holdings by $1 bn in June SEOUL, July 27 (AJP) -South Koreans increased their foreign currency deposits by more than $1 billion, or the largest in in four months in June, driven by hefty semiconductor export proceeds and rising funds parked for overseas stock investments. Resident foreign currency deposits at domestic banks reached $113.33 billion at the end of June, up $1.08 billion from a month earlier, according to data released by the Bank of Korea on Monday. The balance was the highest since February. July 27, 2026

SK nears call on SK Siltron sale as AI lifts valuations SEOUL, July 27 (AJP) - SK Group will decide this week on whether to proceed with the sale of semiconductor wafer maker SK Siltron after surging semiconductor demand prompted a reassessment of the deal. The group's board is scheduled to discuss the proposed sale on Friday, industry sources said. The meeting comes more than seven months after Doosan was named the preferred bidder, with negotiations yet to be finalized. The prolonged negotiations have raised questions about wh July 27, 2026

AI deal euphoria steadies KOSPI and lifts KOSDAQ SEOUL, July 27 (AJP) -The big-tech-studded AI spectacle President Lee Jae Myung wrapped up in San Francisco last Friday helped South Korean shares recover on Monday, though the rebound fell well short of offsetting the nearly 6 percent plunge in the previous session. The KOSPI rose 0.7 percent, or 44.9 points, to 6,735.5, led by SK hynix and Samsung Electronics after their AI partnerships with Nvidia and Broadcom. The tech-heavy KOSDAQ outperformed, climbing 3.2 percent to 772.0, July 27, 2026

FSS flags settlement-date pitfall for overseas stock tax breaks SEOUL, July 27 (AJP) —South Korean investors may lose part of their tax breaks on overseas stock sales if transactions settle after program deadlines, even when the trades themselves were executed on time, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) warned Monday. The regular reminded that capital gains tax deductions under the Repatriation Individual Account (RIA) program are determined by the settlement date rather than the trade date, meaning investors who sell too close to t July 27, 2026

KOSPI leads Asian retreat on oil jitters, capping sidecar-ridden week SEOUL, July 24 (AJP)— South Korean stocks suffered another sharp selloff Friday as surging oil prices driven by escalating Middle East tensions and mounting interest-rate concerns fueled broad risk aversion, sending both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ into sell-side sidecars for a fifth consecutive trading session. The benchmark KOSPI closed at 6,690.62, down 5.72 percent, and the junior KOSDAQ fell 5.32 percent, to 748.22, as foreign and institutional investors accelerated selling desp July 24, 2026

Chey divorce ruling may speed up SK Siltron sale SEOUL, July 24 (AJP) - SK Group's long-stalled sale of wafer maker SK Siltron may be back on track now that chairman Chey Tae-won owes his former wife 944 billion won, about $640 million at current rates, with a board meeting next week shaping up as the decision point. The Seoul High Court ordered Chey on Friday to pay the sum to Roh So-yeong, director of the Art Center Nabi, in the retrial of their property division suit, plus five percent annual interest from the day after t July 24, 2026

Won breaks from yen as SK hynix dollar flows reshape FX outlook SEOUL, July 24 (AJP) - "Excess volatility is undesirable." That identical message from the U.S. Treasury Department applied to both the South Korean won and Japanese yen in its latest semiannual currency report to Congress, even as it kept both countries on its monitoring list. Treasury said recent depreciation pressures were not in line with South Korea's strong economic fundamentals and reiterated that foreign-exchange intervention should be reserved only for epis July 24, 2026