On Friday, the KOSPI index experienced a significant decline of 2.88%, settling at approximately 3,150 points. This downturn followed recent multi-year highs and was attributed to widespread losses across various sectors and investor profit-taking, particularly noticeable after the initiation of new tariffs. Prominent contributors to the decline included Poongsan Corporation, which saw a drop of 15.36%, Doosan Enerbility at 6.25%, SK Hynix at 6.03%, and KB Financial Group at 4.06%.
Further exacerbating the market unease, South Korea's manufacturing sector contracted for the sixth month in a row in July, as indicated by the S&P Global Manufacturing PMI, which decreased to 48.0 from June's 48.7, reflecting sharper declines in both production and new orders.
Conversely, South Korea's export scene showed a positive trajectory, with exports increasing for the second consecutive month in July. Export values rose by 5.9% year-on-year, reaching $60.82 billion. Within this, semiconductor exports jumped by 39.3%, car exports increased by 8.8%, and ship exports soared by 107.6%. During the same period, imports had a modest uptick of 0.7%, amounting to $54.21 billion, which led to a narrowing of the trade surplus to $6.61 billion from $9.08 billion in June.
