South Korea s financial authorities said on Sunday they were re-imposing a ban on short-selling shares at least until June to promote a "level playing field" for retail and institutional investors.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index or KOSPI was launched in 1983 with the base value of 100 as of January 4, 1980. KOSPI is the major stock market index of South Korea.
Debates about the complete prohibition of short selling are intensifying in Korea, especially in light of recent illicit short-selling activities by global investment banks (IB), which have angered individual investors. Even the financial authorities, which continuously supported the full resumption of short selling, have now shifted their stance to reviewing the regulation from the ground up.
Kakao’s acquisition of SM Entertainment earlier this year ended up causing the biggest crisis for the company since its foundation in 2006, exposing the founder and top executives .
Once referred to as national stocks, shares of Naver and Kakao are disappointing investors with sluggish performances this year. Securities firms have consistently reduced the target stock prices for both tech giants, predicting their third-quarter results will fall short of market expectations.