Stock Price 550 Broken, 11 Down to 548

By the influence of the Argentine financial crisis and the anxieties about the potential deficit of the semi-conductor of the Samsung Electronics, the 550 barrier of the Korean Composite Stock Price Index (KCSPI) was broken.

The KCSPI was down 11.46 point to 548.49 yesterday. The shocking break of the 550 line betrayed the expectation of the most investors.

The Kosdaq index also plunged 2.58 down to 69.58 only one day after it had recovered to over 70.

By the news of the U.S. stock price hikes, the KCSPI seemed to continuously rise up in addition to the previous day. However, the financial crisis of the Central and South America shrank the investment confidence and evidenced the instability of the Korean stock market again.

The investors are worried about the `crisis expansion` scenario that the expected default declaration of Argentina might spread the crisis through the South America and eventually the international financial market would be unstable by the loss of the U.S. financial industries from the Central and South American markets.

Furthermore, the indication of Prof. Chung Woon-Chan that the semi-conductor of the Samsung Electronics has recorded a deficit from June by the continuing decrease of the D Ram price accelerated the anxieties of the investors about the Samsung stock price.

Lee Jin leej@donga.com