The office of South Korean opposition party People Power Party lawmaker Choi Eun-seok stated that these losses were incurred by clients of 10 South Korean brokerage firms investing in single-stock ETFs and notes linked to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix between May 27 and August 14, according to data from the South Korean Financial Supervisory Service.
These single-stock tracking products, since their launch in May, have intensified volatility in the South Korean stock market. As a barometer for artificial intelligence (AI) investments, leveraged bets once propelled the South Korean stock market into becoming one of the best-performing markets globally, but the trend subsequently reversed. (rc)