KOSPI · March 19, 2020
A third gone in two months
-35.71%
peak-to-trough, the whole slide
39 trading days · 2020-01-22 → 2020-03-19
still below that peak today
What happened that day?
- From the high on 22 January 2020 to the low on 19 March, the KOSPI fell 35.71% over 39 trading days
- It is among the largest falls in the shortest time in KOSPI history. A third of the index vanished in two months
- At first it was read as something happening in China. Korea fell earlier and harder than other markets as domestic spread began in late February
- In March the character changed. The problem became selling to raise cash, more than the disease itself
- In such moments even safe assets are sold, because what has a ready price turns into cash fastest
- The day after the 19 March low, the Korean and US central banks agreed a currency swap and the tide turned
- The rally that began at this bottom ran through the rest of the year
Sources
Every figure on this page is recomputed from the original daily closing prices and checked against them at build time. The account of what happened is written from the sources listed above.