People gather outside the National Assembly, after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, in Seoul, South Korea, December 4, 2024.
Soo-hyeon Kim | Reuters
South Korean markets opened down on Wednesday, after a day of political upheaval in South Korea that saw President Yoon Suk Yeol impose and then lift a martial law decree within hours.
South Korea’s Kospi was down 1.8% while the Kosdaq dropped 1.7%.
Amid fears of financial instability, a Bank of Korea official reportedly said the bank’s monetary policy board will convene an extraordinary board meeting at around 9 a.m KST.
According to Reuters, the South Korea government has announced that it will inject unlimited liquidity into financial markets for long as necessary in an attempt to calm sentiment.
The Korea Exchange has announced that the country’s stock markets will open normally at 9 a.m.
Other Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed as investors digested events in South Korea.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 opened 0.3% lower.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was trading 0.2% higher, and the Topix was up 0.05%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 19,785, higher than the HSI’s last close of 19,746.32.
In the U.S. overnight, South Korean stocks swung wildly amid the political upheaval that rocked the world’s 13th-largest economy.
The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY), which tracks more than 90 large and mid-sized companies in South Korea, tumbled as much as 7% to hit a 52-week low.
Later in the day, the ETF cut losses and closed Tuesday down 1.6% after Yoon said he would lift the emergency declaration following the National Assembly’s vote to overturn his martial law decree.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 inched up by 0.05%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.4%. Both indexes closed at records. The 30-stock Dow was the laggard, with a decline of nearly 0.2%.
— CNBC’s Yun Li and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.
