South Korea's Kospi Triggers Circuit Breaker, Hynix-Tracking ETF Plunges 13.93% on June 26

According to Zhitong Finance, South Korea's Kospi index plunged 5.81% on June 26, triggering a circuit breaker as the benchmark briefly fell nearly 9% intraday. SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics each tumbled over 10% during the session, with the two stocks accounting for approximately 60% of the Kospi's total weight.

Related ETFs bore the brunt: Southern Panda 2x Leveraged SK Hynix (07709) sank 13.93% to 157.0 HKD, while Southern Panda 2x Leveraged Samsung Electronics (07747) dropped 10.60% to 176.35 HKD. Crypto-linked assets also weakened as Bitcoin dropped below the 60,000 USD level and Ethereum fell below 1,600 USD. Zhitong Finance reported that Bitcoin faced headwinds from two major headwinds: approximately $10 billion in Bitcoin options expiring on June 26, and rising U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike expectations strengthening the dollar and pressuring risk assets.