GoKawiilSouth Korean Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said on Tuesday he would try to derive a mutually beneficial trade agreement with the United States.
South Korea's finance minister apologized on Wednesday after retail investors racked up heavy losses from leveraged bets on stocks, following rule changes earlier this year.
The May 27 introduction of single-stock leveraged Exchange Traded Funds has seen Korean retail investors pile in with net purchases of 14 trillion won ($9.7 billion), compared with roughly 2 trillion won by foreign investors, according to KB Financial Group.
But the speculative trading boom that helped fuel one of the world's hottest equity markets has resulted in those investors nursing heavy losses as Korea's Kospi index has experienced a sharp correction, led by a downturn in chip stocks.
The pain has been especially acute for holders of single-stock leveraged ETFs tied to chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix , which had surged alongside the AI-driven semiconductor rally.
The KODEX SK Hynix Single Stock Leverage ETF — a product designed to deliver twice the daily move in SK Hynix shares — has fallen more than 80% since its June 23 peak, according to LSEG data.
The equivalent product tracking Samsung has fallen almost 75% from its peak on June 3.
It comes after a blistering rally in the Kospi has come to an abrupt halt, with jitters over chip stocks seeing the value of the index plunging almost 35% over the last month.