{"id":41706,"date":"2026-03-04T11:50:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T11:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=41706"},"modified":"2026-03-04T11:50:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T11:50:06","slug":"why-south-koreas-kospi-just-crashed-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=41706","title":{"rendered":"Why South Korea\u2019s KOSPI Just Crashed 12%"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEscalating geopolitical tensions amid the war in Iran are part of the reasons behind South Korea&#8217;s worst stock market crash in decades. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The benchmark market index in South Korea, KOSPI, saw a massive decline during the last trading session, dropping by more than 12%. Undoubtedly, this last drop represents a significant escalation from earlier market movements and highlights the increasing volatility in local equity markets amid the war in Iran.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"worst-stock-market-crash-since-2008\">Worst Stock Market Crash Since 2008<\/h2>\n<p>As of this writing on Wednesday, KOSPI is down by more than 12%. On the previous trading day, the benchmark index lost another 7%, marking what appears to be the worst performance since 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Both Kosdaq and KOSPI hit the threshold for an emergency circuit breaker on Korea\u2019s stock exchange, triggering 20-minute trading halts.<\/p>\n<p>Commenting on the matter in a report for CNBC was Lorraine Tan, Asia\u2019s director of equity research at Morningstar, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/03\/04\/asia-markets-hang-seng-index-kospi-nikkei-225.html\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe decline in the KOSPI can broadly be attributed to the single-name concentration that we see in the Korean markets. [\u2026] We believe that the drop in share prices is partly driven by profit taking after a strong runup amidst a risk-off environment but also implies growing concern that the AI datacenter adoption pace might slow down due to its significantly higher energy costs than regular data centers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Additionally, analysts point out that South Korea\u2019s economy is highly sensitive to oil prices, making it even more vulnerable during the <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/war-in-2026-3-cryptocurrencies-to-watch-amid-the-ongoing-geopolitical-storm\/\">war in the Middle East<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1430343\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1430343\" style=\"width: 1332px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/KOSPI_2026-03-04_09-21-17.png\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1430343\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: TradingView<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"global-tensions-in-markets\">Global Tensions in Markets<\/h2>\n<p>Markets in Japan are also under pressure. Japan\u2019s flagship market index, the Nikkei, is down over 5% over the last 48 hours, while the US Stock Market has been able to recover somewhat following statements from respective parties.<\/p>\n<p>Crypto markets remain flat on the day. Bitcoin is up 0.6% in the past 24 hours, while the majority of altcoins are trading in the range between -1% and +1%. The total capitalization is around $2.3 trillion, down 0.1% on the day, according to CoinMarketCap.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"you-may-also-like\" class=\"heading-4\">You may also like:<\/h3>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-12\" style=\"margin: 8px 0; clear: both;\">\n<div><center><span style=\"font-size:11px; color: gray;\">SPECIAL OFFER (Exclusive)<\/span><\/center><br \/>\n<b>Binance Free $600 (CryptoPotato Exclusive): <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/binance600f\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Use this link<\/a> to register a new account and receive $600 exclusive welcome offer on Binance<\/b> (<a href=\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/binance600d\/\">full details<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><b>LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/pl\/bybit24\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Use this link<\/a> to register and open a $500 FREE position on any coin!<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 --><\/p><\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/market-meltdown-why-south-koreas-kospi-just-crashed-12\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; Escalating geopolitical tensions amid the war in Iran are part of the reasons behind South Korea&#8217;s worst&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-crypto","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}