<Anchor>
Today (the 13th), the start of a new week, the Korean financial market fluctuated once again.
As the KOSPI fell to its annual low, the 2,500 mark was now at stake, and the won-dollar exchange rate soared close to 1,300 won.
It was influenced by a flood of signs that the US economy is worse than expected.
First news, this is reporter Han Sang-woo.
<Reporter>
As soon as the stock market opened at 9 am, the stock price plummeted.
As the KOSPI fell by 3.52% and the KOSDAQ by 4.72%, 88 trillion won in both markets disappeared in one day.
Shares of companies representing the Korean stock market, such as Samsung Electronics, Naver, and Kakao, also fell to their lowest levels in the year.
The exchange rate jumped more than 15 won from last Friday and soared to 1,284 won.
The government tried to intervene verbally, saying it was watching with vigilance, but to no avail.
Last Saturday, the US CPI for May jumped 8.6% from a year earlier, the highest in 41 years.
Some even predicted that the US central bank would take the so-called 'giant step' to raise the benchmark interest rate by 0.75 percentage points this week.
As the inflation rate exceeded expectations, pressure to raise interest rates intensified, pulling the stock market down along with concerns about an economic slowdown.
Added to this was fears that the economy would freeze as the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, a statistic showing the US economy, fell to its worst level ever, lower than during the oil shock of the 1970s.
There are concerns that inflation will lead to interest rate hikes, which will lead to a vicious cycle of economic slowdown again.
[Sewoon Hwang/Senior Research Fellow, Capital Market Research Institute: Inflation does not fall easily once it rises.
If (the US) tightens its currency (a large increase in the key interest rate), a recession is almost inevitable.]
Unless there is a turning point, such as the end of the Ukraine war, the financial market is likely to continue to shake.
(Video editing: Won Yang, VJ: Jung Young-sam)