South Korea’s stock market in meltdown amid US-Iran war

Benchmark index plummets as much as 12.2 percent, eclipsing single-day plunge after 9/11 attacks in 2001.Published On 4 Mar 2026South Korea’s stock market has suffered one of the steepest falls in history amid the widening fallout of the United States-Israeli war on Iran.The benchmark KOSPI index plummeted as much as 12.2 percent on Wednesday, eclipsing the 12.02 percent single-day plunge triggered by the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US and the 9.44 percent drop seen at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Is the US at war with Iran, and will it put boots on the ground?list 2 of 4Russia, China raise diplomatic voices against US-Israeli attacks on Iranlist 3 of 4US senators fear ‘boots on the ground’ after Iran war briefinglist 4 of 4US Commerce Secretary Lutnick to testify before Congress about Epstein tiesend of listThe index recovered some losses in the afternoon and was down about 10 percent as of 05:00 GMT.South Korean financial authorities had earlier activated their 20-minute circuit breaker after losses passed the 8 percent threshold for triggering a halt to trading on the exchange.The plunge followed a 7.2 percent fall in the KOSPI on Tuesday, cementing the worst two-day streak in decades.Losses were spread across the board, hitting corporate giants such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and LG Electronics.But shipping and logistics firms suffered the steepest losses amid the effective halt of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about one-fifth of the oil consumed globally.Shares of Pan Ocean, HMM and KSS Line plunged between 17 and 19 percent.South Korea’s economy depends heavily on foreign oil and gas, with about 98 percent of its fossil fuel needs coming from overseas, according to the US Energy Information Administration.South Korea’s stock market had an explosive start to 2026, with the KOSPI gaining more than 40 percent in the first two months of the year, far outpacing international peers.