{"id":433843,"date":"2026-07-16T09:46:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/asian-chip-stocks-slammed-as-nikkei-kospi-both-slide-sharply-433843\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T09:46:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:46:21","slug":"asian-chip-stocks-slammed-as-nikkei-kospi-both-slide-sharply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/asian-chip-stocks-slammed-as-nikkei-kospi-both-slide-sharply-433843\/","title":{"rendered":"Asian chip stocks slammed as Nikkei, Kospi both slide sharply"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\">The synchronized selloff across Tokyo and Seoul underscores how tightly linked regional chip stocks have become, with analysts pointing to supply-demand dynamics, including elevated margin buying and leveraged ETF flows, as much as underlying fundamentals. Attention now shifts to TSMC&#8217;s earnings later in the day, seen as a key read on whether AI-driven demand can offset the volatility hitting chip-adjacent names. In Korea, the central bank&#8217;s rate hike adds a further layer for markets to digest, with the won steadying but chip heavyweights still under heavy pressure even as the currency move was aimed at supporting it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\">&#8212;<br \/>\nChip stocks led a sharp selloff across Japan and South Korea, with the Kospi triggering a sidecar even as the Bank of Korea delivered its long-awaited rate hike.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\">Summary:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"[li_&amp;]:mb-0 [li_&amp;]:mt-1 [li_&amp;]:gap-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3\">\n<li class=\"font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\">Japan&#8217;s Nikkei fell around 3%, with the broader Topix also lower, as chip-related shares underwent a sharp correction<\/li>\n<li class=\"font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\">Memory chipmaker Kioxia led Nikkei losses, down roughly 15%, with SoftBank Group and Advantest also falling sharply<\/li>\n<li class=\"font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\">Markets awaited earnings from Taiwan&#8217;s TSMC, expected to post a fifth straight quarter of record profit after a roughly 60% jump in net profit last quarter<\/li>\n<li class=\"font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\">South Korea&#8217;s Kospi slid around 7%, triggering a sidecar trading curb, with SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics both down heavily<\/li>\n<li class=\"font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/central-banks\/bok-delivers-unanimous-25bp-hike-to-2-75-flags-persistent-inflation\" rel=\"follow\">Bank of Korea hiked its policy rate 25bp<\/a> to 2.75%, its first increase in over three years, aimed partly at supporting the won<\/li>\n<li class=\"font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\">Analysts linked the region&#8217;s tech volatility partly to supply-demand factors, including <a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/stock-market-update\/south-korean-regulator-to-unveil-single-stock-leveraged-etf-curbs-as-sidecars-hit-kospi-kosdaq\" rel=\"follow\">South Korea&#8217;s leveraged ETF-related selling<\/a> and elevated margin buying among Japanese retail investors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\">\nChip-related stocks led a sharp selloff across Japan and South Korea on Thursday, with Japan&#8217;s Nikkei falling around 3% and South Korea&#8217;s Kospi sliding roughly 7% and triggering a sidecar trading curb. The Nikkei&#8217;s decline was led by memory chipmaker Kioxia, which dropped around 15%, its steepest fall since last November, while SoftBank Group and chip-testing equipment maker Advantest also posted sharp losses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\">Analysts said there has been a noticeable divergence between semiconductor stocks and the broader market recently, with high-tech shares undergoing a correction. Today&#8217;s volatility looked more supply-demand driven than fundamentals driven, pointing to South Korea&#8217;s leveraged ETF-linked selling and elevated margin buying among Japanese retail investors in recent weeks. Markets were awaiting an earnings call from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing later in the day, with the world&#8217;s largest advanced AI chipmaker expected to post a fifth consecutive quarter of record profit after a roughly 60% surge in net profit last quarter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\">In South Korea, the Kospi&#8217;s slide of around 7% more than erased the previous session&#8217;s gains and triggered a sidecar, temporarily halting program trading. SK Hynix tumbled as much as roughly 12%, while Samsung Electronics fell around 9%, with the two chipmakers together making up just over half of the Kospi&#8217;s weighting. Battery maker LG Energy Solution was a rare gainer, edging higher. KOSDAQ slid alaos, triggering its own sidecar prgram trading suspension.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\">The declines came as the Bank of Korea&#8217;s monetary policy board voted to raise its policy rate by 25 basis points to 2.75%, its first hike in more than three years, aimed at shoring up the won after the currency weakened roughly 3% against the dollar this year. The move, expected by nearly all economists surveyed by Reuters beforehand, brings the BOK&#8217;s stance closer in line with the Bank of Japan, which recently raised its own benchmark rate to a 31-year high. The rate decision came alongside separate news that South Korea&#8217;s financial regulator plans to introduce new measures shortly on single-stock leveraged ETFs, products increasingly blamed for amplifying the market&#8217;s recent volatility.<\/p>\n<p>                            This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The synchronized selloff across Tokyo and Seoul underscores how tightly linked regional chip stocks have become, with analysts pointing to supply-demand dynamics, including elevated margin buying and leveraged ETF flows, as much&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-433843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433843\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}