South Korean Circuit Breakers Triggered • Gold & Silver Slide • Tech Rally Cools

Market Overview

Risk appetite cooled significantly across global markets during Friday's overnight session.

Asia-Pacific equities came under broad selling pressure. South Korea's KOSPI plunged 6.90%, triggering its eighth circuit breaker of the year. Chinese equities also weakened sharply, with the Shanghai Composite falling 1.85% to 3,882.41, the Shenzhen Component declining 1.97%, and the ChiNext Index dropping 2.95%.

In the U.S., technology stocks led the market lower. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.47% to 25,881.95, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.51% and 0.20%, respectively. Alphabet shares declined 4.4% after the company delayed the launch of its flagship Gemini model, amid concerns that its coding capabilities fell short of market expectations.

Precious metals experienced a broad selloff. Spot gold dropped 2.08% to $3,975.93 per ounce, slipping below the psychologically important $4,000 level, while spot silver tumbled 3.97% to $55.51 per ounce. A 0.31% rise in the U.S. Dollar Index added further pressure to gold and silver prices.

Crude oil edged lower, with WTI crude settling at $78.95 per barrel, down 0.82%, and Brent crude falling 0.85%. Bitcoin also retreated, declining 1.1% and briefly dipping below the $64,000 mark.

One of the few bright spots came from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which reported a 77.4% year-over-year increase in second-quarter net profit to NT$706.6 billion. Gross margin expanded to 67.7%, and management raised its full-year revenue growth forecast to 40%.

Market Outlook● World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the Global AI Race

The World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) opens today in Shanghai, coinciding with Google's Gemini launch delay and an acceleration of fundraising activity among Chinese AI model developers.

Investors will closely monitor announcements and technological developments from the conference, particularly whether leading domestic AI models such as DeepSeek and Kimi can further narrow the gap with globally leading proprietary models in terms of performance, scalability, and commercial adoption.

● Bank of Korea Policy Shift and Asian Market Sentiment

The Bank of Korea raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 2.75%, marking its first rate hike in three and a half years. Combined with the sharp KOSPI selloff that triggered the year's eighth circuit breaker, the move highlights growing fragility in regional market sentiment.

Investors will be watching whether tighter monetary policy can cool South Korea's housing market, which has recorded 75 consecutive weeks of price increases. Market participants will also assess whether stricter regulations on leveraged ETFs could accelerate capital outflows from higher-volatility assets.

Key Events to Watch

• Eurozone June Consumer Price Index (CPI)

• U.S. July University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey and Inflation Expectations

• U.S. June Industrial Production, Housing Starts, and Building Permits

• World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai

• Bank of Korea raises interest rates by 25 basis points to 2.75%, the first hike in three and a half years; June CPI reaches 3.2%

• U.S. military conducts a fifth consecutive night of airstrikes on Iran; shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz falls to roughly 10% of pre-conflict levels