KOSPI Drops Below 5,500 During Session... KOSDAQ Also Turns Lower

"Iran's Ambiguous Stance and Memory Sector Headwinds Reflected"

The KOSPI index fell into the 5,500 range during the session, declining by more than 2%. Although it briefly recovered the 5,500 level, the decline deepened as foreign investors sold more than 3 trillion won worth of shares. The KOSDAQ, which had started with slight gains, turned lower.

As of 2:13 p.m. on March 26, 2026, the KOSPI was trading at 5,489.66, down 152.55 points (2.70%) from the previous session, according to the Korea Exchange.

As Iran expressed its refusal to the negotiation proposal presented by the United States, tensions rose again, and on the 26th, the domestic stock market opened lower. An employee is monitoring the stock market and exchange rates in the dealing room at the Hana Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. On the day, the KOSPI opened at 5594.06, down 48.15 points (0.85%) from the previous trading day. March 26, 2026 Photo by Cho Yongjun

Foreign investors showed strong selling pressure, with net sales amounting to 3.1911 trillion won. Institutions also recorded net sales of 160.9 billion won, while individual investors made net purchases totaling 3.0642 trillion won.

The KOSDAQ started the day up 0.01% from the previous session but turned downward during trading. It was trading at 1,143.97, down 1.34% from the previous trading day.

Kang Jin-hyuk, a researcher at Shinhan Securities, analyzed, "The KOSPI reflected both Iran's ambiguous stance on the U.S.-Iran peace negotiations and negative developments in the memory sector."

Kang explained, "Micron Technology and SanDisk shares weakened after Google's announcement of its TurboQuant algorithm for reducing memory usage, which also led to underperformance among South Korean semiconductor stocks. As investment sentiment became more volatile, investors engaged in profit-taking in nuclear power and renewable energy stocks."

As for the KOSDAQ, Kang noted, "Despite a series of positive developments in the biotech sector, the KOSDAQ outperformed the KOSPI." On this day, Alteogen soared to become the second-largest company by market capitalization after signing two exclusive license deals with Biogen worth more than 800 billion won. Kolon TissueGene also saw its share price surge by more than 20% following news that the clinical trials for its osteoarthritis treatment were nearing completion.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.