Home > Business > Finance

Kospi plummets 3.7 percent, won breaks 1,400 against the dollar after gov't rolls back tax cuts

Published: 01 Aug. 2025, 14:20

JIN MIN-JI
[email protected]

Korea’s Kospi plunged 3.7 percent and the won broke 1,400 against the greenback on Friday, a day after the government’s announcement of plans to roll back recently imposed tax cuts.

The Kospi fell as low as 3.74 percent to touch 3,123.22 points, led by mass selling of foreign and institutional investors.

Tech-heavy Kosdaq also plummeted more than 4 percent during trading, also led by mass unloading by foreign and institutional investors.

The bloodletting comes a day after the country’s Finance Ministry announced a set of tax revisions, rolling back tax cuts to support expansionary fiscal policies aimed at promoting an economic recovery.

The annual tax code revisions proposed by the ministry include raising taxes on corporate income and stock investments that had been cut by the previous administration.

On Thursday, Korea and the United States also settled on a trade agreement, with the United States setting a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff on Korea — lower than the proposed 25 percent — in return for Korea’s $350 billion investment in U.S. projects. Steel, aluminum and copper were not covered in the deal.

The won broke 1,400 against the U.S. dollar as foreigners sold Korean stocks. It marks the first time in two months that the won broke the threshold during trading since May 19.

BY JIN MIN-JI [[email protected][