South Korea's Kospi drops 12.6% after single-stock leveraged ETFs launch
Business
South Korea's Kospi stock index just took a big 12.6% hit on Wednesday, and top officials are saying sorry for the hasty introduction and regulatory oversight of single-stock leveraged ETFs.
The drop mostly comes from sharp losses in major chip stocks, made worse by the launch of new single-stock leveraged ETFs, financial products that Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol admitted weren't fully thought through.
Regulators' oversight lapses fuel chip selloff
Regulators also owned up to not keeping a close enough eye on these ETFs, which instead fueled market swings.
Big names like Samsung and SK Hynix saw their shares tumble, with SK Hynix doing so despite reporting record earnings.