Korea’s World-Beating Stock Rally Stumbles as Risk-Off Wave Hits

For much of the past year, South Korean stocks stood out as an anomaly, continuing to rise even on days when the global AI boom took a break in other markets. Monday’s rout is now testing investor confidence.

What started as a modest downturn quickly morphed into a sharp selloff, with the nation’s equities swept up in the unwinding of crowded trades along with gold and silver. Uncertainty over interest-rate policy and doubts about the durability of AI-driven spending weighed heavily on technology shares.