“God Help the KOSDAQ!”

The stock market fell significantly on July 29.

The KOSDAQ composite index fell by more than three percent, and for four consecutive days, the record low was broken. Also, the composite stock market index came close to breaking the yearly low as well.

On this day at the Seoul Stock Exchange, in comparison to yesterday’s index, the composite stock price index fell by 13.81 points (1.86 percent), which closed the market at 730.61 points. This was recorded as the second lowest close for the year, following the May 17 year-low of 728.98 points. Also, the KOSDAQ index dropped by 11.66 points (3.43 percent), closing the market at 328.44 points and breaking the low for four consecutive days. The KOSDAQ index also dropped by about eight percent over the last six business days.

High international oil prices curbing potential investments and the stagnating Taiwanese and Japanese markets were the reasons behind the falling Korean market index.

Foreign investors pulled out of the Korean market by emphatically selling blue-chip stocks like Samsung Electronics , which in turn exacerbated the already plummeting KOSDAQ market index. Stock market experts said, “The semiconductor and Internet industries, which make up the bulk of the KOSDAQ market, are making blunt progress. Stagnating domestic economic activity is also worsening matters.”

Kang-Woon Lee kwoon90@donga.com