South Korean shares fell nearly 5% on Monday, triggering market-wide trading curbs as investors unwound AI-linked trades, extending a bruising correction that has wiped out more than a quarter of the KOSPI's value since its June peak.
The selloff highlighted mounting investor anxiety over a market increasingly driven by leveraged bets on AI chipmakers. Once a peripheral market for global investors, South Korea has become a key barometer of enthusiasm for the AI boom, and is now feeling the downside as sentiment turns.
