Stock index falls to half-year low

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index opened Monday with a sharp drop of 40 points and fell as low as 580 points, and the Kosdaq suffered a similar loss.

The KOSPI recorded a drop of 41.48 points after only 7 minutes of trading and stood at 586.72 points at 9:07 a.m. Korea time. The last time the main index of the Korea Stock Exchange recorded below 600 during a trading day was Mar. 19, 1999, with a record of 580.75.

The Kosdaq index fell 6.8 points and stood at 92.45 soon after trading began. A fall of 3.15 points has been recorded for the futures market, which stood at 73.20.

Many analysts believe that the falling prices were the results of rising international oil prices, the losses on the Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the break-off of the negotiation with Ford for the purchase of Daewoo Motor, as well as the government's ineffective financial market policy.

With such negative internal and external factors, the investment funds have frozen up even as foreign investors and institutions went on a selling streak.